Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman calls it’s a battle of perception and that she’ll win it for the BJP. But then, shortly after declaring that, she chose not to address a presser, sending in her stead agriculture minister Gajendra Shekhawat! What was she cooking? Couldn’t be stew because the whole purpose was to get out of the soup. Congress President Rahul Gandhi says the fun has just begun!

Also playing in Nirmala’s mind is the ‘international dimension’ to the Rafale controversy, as “seen in the desperation in the Congress”, said the first lady to hold the Defence portfolio in its totality. But Nirmala is also a defence minister whose greatest achievement, some clearly biased critics say, is to build the rail-over-bridge at Elphinstone station in Mumbai. She’s also changing military hospitals into civilian corridors.

“We recognize there is a perception war going on. I will go around the country to counter it. No way we are going to agree to false propaganda. Now you also see an international dimension to it. Rahul Gandhi’s statement just a few days before Hollande’s comment cannot be a coincidence,” Sitharaman said. “There is a certain desperation to blemish the government when there was not even a whiff of corruption in the last four years.”

For the record, Nirmala did not say “they were going to bring down this government from day one.” But the perception battle she talks of places both parties in the ‘let’s perception' bracket, both are playing the game, not just the Congress alone. The BJP, too, and Nirmala is going to win perception for the BJP. How, she hasn’t spelled out and there are stalwart perception-models in the rival ranks, too.

Of course, both are not on the same page! The stench of the “whiffs of corruption” engulfs both parties. One going back decades to artillery and the other more recent and has to do with Mach speeds and missiles and other armoury fighter-jets tow on missions to drop. It’s a game of throne that both the parties are playing, repeated accusations being met with stonewalling.

Is it working, the attacks and the stonewalling? Who knows what’s happening in the people’s mind, it is perception, after all? A third of the population will agree with Rahul because they are left of centre, die-hard Congress. A third will nod vigorously at what Modi explains and that’s because they are staunch BJP. That leaves 33% to sway and those are the ones who will decide who wins the perception battle, Nirmala or Rahul?

There are a couple of things. One, with the kind of timing and frequency of the allegations, the Congress party, if it gets out of circulation anytime, can run an airline, very well. Two, with scammer-tycoons fleeing, the BJP can, if it gets out of circulation, run an international airline equally well. Three, we the people, are not people anymore; we are tribes, different tribes, arrayed against each other.

The worst thing that could happen to the media and the people will be that nothing shouted from the hilltop happened or everything that rang false happened! This is a dangerous world we are living in. Be prepared to get a jolt or two either way. We are still long ways from getting into the weeds and like Rahul Gandhi said the fun has just begun. Sambit Patra will say, “Picture Abhi Baaki Hai.”

New names like Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Robert Vadra’s friend Sanjay Bhandari and Francois Hollande will keep dropping into the mire, the stew that’s the soup. ‘Offset’ is the latest in the lexicon to upset the ‘rhythm’, the word Arun Jaitley used to explain ‘coincidence’. Shekhawat said “for the last few days, Rahul Gandhi is misleading the country by comparing the cost of an unloaded aircraft with a fully-loaded aircraft. The present Rafale deal is almost 20% cheaper than the UPA deal.” He might as well be speaking French! And with Pakistan jumping into the fray, there cannot be any ‘Aman Ki Aasha.’ Let’s admit once and for all that India and Pakistan are born to fight till Qayamat comes, which is a hoax.

There is frustration among intellectuals and aam aadmi. Why doesn’t the government throw the secrecy clause into the bin and reveal all, see Rahul Gandhi gasp at the sight? Oh, no, that will be the end of ‘perception’. There is so much more fun playing perception with Rahul, who it seems loves a good fight, no holds barred. Nobody is bothered the well is getting poisoned and nothing is being done to disinfect the infected room – the Perception Room! ‘Nirmala’ translates to ‘clear’ but what does ‘Sitharaman’ convey other than muddy perception? (IPA Service)