Moral Code Of Conduct & a Tughlaqi Relocation!

They say history repeats itself. Well, it certainly did in our case. Just as Muhammad Bin Tughlaq shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad and was later forced to shift it back to Delhi – we shifted our website www.stateofdelhi.in from WordPress only to bring it back to WordPress. This explains the absence of this blog in February. It left us disheartened  but then Dilliwalahs have this capacity to leave their indignation behind and bounce back (isn’t Shiela Auntie back?!) – so here we are.

That was February. March 2019 saw the Moral Code of Conduct (‘Model’ as the EC would like us to call it while ‘Moral’ – it actually is! ) being promulgated.  This blogger is largely apolitical and thus thought it’s best to stay mum as a self-restraint measure. Yes, some of our dispatches take a dig on our guy AK but that’s because he unfailingly supplies us remarkable fodder that’s difficult not to make fun of. Coming back to the Moral Code of Conduct:

1. The Moral Code of Conduct did not come in way of a political party appropriating the armed forces
2. The Moral Code of Conduct did not come in the way of a candidate humiliating a martyr
3. The Moral Code of Conduct did not come in the way of a party not contesting enough seats to have any impact on any major legislation in the new parliament – promising statehood to a Union Territory
4. The Moral Code of Conduct did not come in the way of two parties with different ideologies (academically speaking parties are supposed to have an ideology) playing ‘she-loves-me : she-loves-me-not’ in full public view
5. The Moral Code of Conduct did not come in the way of a launch of a TV channel for a candidate
6. The Moral Code of Conduct did not come in the way of a politician depriving DRDO officials of making a public announcement of their achievement

So what the heck! How can it come in the way of satire! www.stateofdelhi.in is, therefore, up and kicking.

Jump-cut to now and what have we. The election landscape of Delhi is weirdly exciting. There is a three-cornered contest with characters drawn from diverse fields such as boxing, cricket, sufi music, and bhojpuri cinema combating veterans such as Dr Harshvardhan, Shiela Auntie and JP Agarwal. That Ajay Maken and Shiela Auntie are now a team gives a completely new meaning to ‘political compulsions’. And remember the Sri Sri devotee who played a key role in ravaging the Yamuna banks without an iota of bother for the NGT – well thankfully his political masters replaced him with a rookie (The River Strikes Back!). Then there are these Young Turks  – Atishi and Raghav Chadha  who come in with a clean image and may just emerge as giant killers. So while Dilliwalahs will be watching the outcome of Varanasi, Amethi, Wayanad and Begusarai (that’s for the JNU kid who has become a man -thanks to the State) – they will also be eagerly cued in on the results of the seven Delhi seats. May 23rd it is and may the best candidate win! Did anyone say NOTA? God!

StateOfDelhi Suggests: When the heat of elections get fused with the soaring temperatures – take a cool break. Get to old Delhi and sample the mango kulfi of Kuremal Kulfiwala.  It is a century old enterprise and they specialize in serving kulfi stuffed in seasonal fruits. Prices are slightly steep compared to your local kulfi vendor but this trip to Kucha Patti Ram, Bazaar Sitaram in Dilli is well worth it. The most convenient way to get there is to hop on to the Yellow Line of Delhi Metro and get off at Chawri Bazaar – Kuremal is walking distance from the Chawri Bazaar Metro Station. Have fun, Dilliwalahs.