These two gentlemen from Gujarat, the 'hamare doh' of the 'hum doh, hamare doh' fame, are hogging more than just sunlight. They have the monopoly on all vitamins that feed India's growth story, even if the growth translates in only increasing their wealth. What's troubling is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government appear to be dancing to the tunes set by big business. Ratan Tata said it when he replied, "I'm an industrialist, he's a businessman." Ambani and Adani's mission is profit, nafa!

A psycho analysis of Narendra Modi ought to give us an impression of why Ambani and Adani hold sway. Is it that the one-time small-town chaiwala is overawed by the sheer size of the Ambani and Adani operations? If one is master of airports and seaports, the other controls a spectrum of businesses! The Prime Minister is convinced India will ride into economic superpower-dom on the shoulders of Ambani and Adani. If the Tatas get a sliver of the action, that's the hand of God!

Anyway, the farmers are not way off the mark when they say the new farm laws will break them because they are trimmed and fashioned to benefit Ambani and Adani. MSP apart, they are worried they will lose their lands. The government says no, but look at what's happening in Columbus land where Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos have been buying prime farmland left right and centre.

In fact, Gates owns about 242,000 acres and Bezos over 400,000 in the USA alone. In addition, Gates has interests in seeds and farming technology, and he's spread his operations to India and Africa. The question is, are Ambani and Adani up to the same tricks a la Gates and Bezos? We know that Reliance and Amazon are in stiff competition in India's online retail business.

They also have a stake in the three farm laws. According to an Uttarakhandi journalist, big business has got its soiled hands on several hills in the hill state and hills are where farmers farm in Uttarakhand. Such tidbits are what's feeding the farmers' agitation, and not so much a Greta Thunberg or Disha Ravi toolkit. The farmers have an idea of who they are up against. They and Vandana Shiva!

But, going off on a tangent, is there any 'dum' to NCP Chief Sharad Pawar's call for a 'Third Front'? Pawar has been architect of several failed third fronts. But this time could be different because this time Pawar sees himself leading from the front the Third Front, even as a Prime Ministerial candidate if the Third Front comes to Pawar, oops power!

Sharad Pawar has fancied himself Prime Ministerial for a long time and time is running out on him. And if anything or anybody stands in Pawar's way to stake claim, it's the Congress and the Gandhis. Only a couple of weeks ago, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut had said Pawar should lead the UPA, replace Sonia Gandhi at the helm. But that's not gonna happen, not for as long as Sonia's dream to see Rahul Gandhi PM does not come true.

The question is, can today's political situation sustain a Third Front? Is the time ripe? Pawar and Sitaram Yechury think so. Both have voiced their eagerness for a third political front to take on the BJP in full and the Congress by half.

Then, again, talk of a Third Front could be only because of the Kerala and West Bengal elections. The NCP is with the LDF in Kerala, and aligned with the Trinamool in West Bengal. Sharad Pawar and Sitaram Yechury are bumchums. They were together in New Delhi the other day to induct PC Chacko into the NCP. That's when Third Front idea came out. Pawar said Pinarayi Vijayan says he liked the thought.

Point is spirits are high and if there's any grain of golden truth in the Third Front, then Pinarayi is the Vijayan, i.e., victory! Any Third Front will have the NCP, the Left Front, the TMC, Lalu Prasad's RJD, the Samajwadi Party, possibly Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, the JMM, maybe the DMK, also Kamal Haasan's party, the YSR Congress... Actually, thinking the thought might give goosebumps to a whole range of people.

But, talking of the Congress, what about the G23, which is not in the decision-making rung of the Congress but also not out of the Congress, as yet? Sharad Pawar must have the G23 in mind when he mulls Third Front, guys like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal and Anand Sharma, who have to be accommodated. These men are the backbone of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi thinks he can grow a new spine! Sharad Pawar's Third Front could be the vertrebrae that Rahul's missing, who knows?

Lastly, a Third Front is an old idea. Mulled and tried before. But if it's opposition unity that the Third Front wishes to accomplish, that's for the birds. The Congress continues to be relevant and dominant in several states. And opposition unity without the Congress is like Sachin Tendulkar's bat without the handle! You can hold it clumsily, but cannot use it to hit the ball out of the park!

The farmers agitation, the Centre's intransigence, Ambani and Adani, and the hegemony of big business, all give room to build a robust opposition to the BJP, which is on the backfoot, but individual ambitions will at the end of the day overtake good intentions. Unfortunately, for Sharad Pawar, he's not a Deve Gowda or an IK Gujral; nor is he a Charan Singh or a VP Singh — a Chandrashekhar. Sharad Pawar is luckless politician, too powerful for his own good! (IPA Service)