Nothing diffuses tension in India’s parliament more quickly than Urdu poetry. There is almost no political standoff that cannot be overcome by a verse or two.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, being badgered by the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday over the WikiLeaks disclosures suggesting that his government won a trust vote in 2008 by allegedly bribing some Members of Parliament, responded with an Urdu couplet.
I am not sure if the content of the verse is immediately relevant to the fractious debate, but apparently he was responding to something that Sushma Swaraj, the leader of the opposition belonging to the BJP, had said in her address.
If you did not know context in which Dr. Singh recited the verse, you might think he was flirting with Swaraj. The verse went something like this as far as I could hear it over the general din in the house:
Mana ke tere deed ke qabil nahi hun mein
Tu mera shauk to dekh mera intezaar to dekh
Perhaps I am not worthy of even looking at you
But at least do concede my tastes and my long wait
Who would have thought that the US-India nuclear deal that President George W. Bush initiated in his infinite wisdom would still be radiating years later in India’s parliament and inspiring poetic banter?