‘Are you mocking me?’ said Mahesh Kapoor angrily.
‘No, no, no, no – how can you say that?’
‘Because if you are, let me tell you that I am prepared to fight from this constituency if necessary to make sure that the farmers here are not maltreated by your friends.’
Jha’s mouth opened slightly. He could not imagine Mahesh Kapoor fighting from a rural constituency, so closely associated was he in everyone’s mind with Old Brahmpur. Mahesh Kapoor had rarely interfered much in the affairs of Rudhia, and Jha resented his new activist role.
‘Is this why your son was making speeches in the marketplace today?’ Jha said in a surly tone.
‘What speeches?’ said Mahesh Kapoor.
‘With that boy Lahiri, that IAS fellow.’
‘What are you talking about?’ said Mahesh Kapoor dismissively. ‘I’m not interested in all that. All I can tell you is that you’d better get Joshi to lay off – or else I’ll get a case registered against him. Whether I’m in the government or not, I don’t want the Zamindari Act to become toothless, and if necessary I am prepared to become the local dentist.’
‘I have a better suggestion, Maheshji,’ said Jha, hitching up his dhoti aggressively. ‘If you are so keen on a rural constituency, why not fight from Salimpur-cum-Baitar? Then you can make sure that your friend the Nawab Sahib doesn’t evict his tenants, as I understand he is very skilled in doing.’
‘Thank you, I will take note of your suggestion,’ said Mahesh Kapoon.
‘And do tell me when your party, the – what is it called? – it is so difficult to remember these alphabet parties that keep springing up – the KMPP – yes, KMPP – manages to get a hundred votes, Maheshji,’ said Jha, who was delighted that he could parley thus with a man who had been so powerful just a few weeks earlier. ‘But why have you left us Congress-wallahs bereft of your presence and wisdom? Why have you left the party of Nehru? Chacha Nehru, our great leader – how will he manage without people like you – people of enlightened views? And, more to the point, how will you manage without him? When he comes to ask the people to vote for Congress, do you think they will listen to him or to you?’
‘You should be ashamed to rake Nehru’s name,’ said Mahesh Kapoor heatedly. ‘You believe in nothing he does, yet you will use him to catch your votes. Jha Sahib, if it were not for Nehru’s name, you would be nothing.’
‘If. If,’ said Jha expansively.
‘I have heard enough nonsense,’ said Mahesh Kapoor. ‘Tell Joshi that I have a list of the tenants he has turned out. How I have got it concerns neither him nor you. He had better reinstate them by Independence Day. That is all I have to say.’
Mahesh Kapoor got up to go. As he was about to leave the room, Joshi, the very man he had been talking about, entered. Joshi looked so worried that he hardly noticed Mahesh Kapoor until he bumped into him. He looked up – he was a small man with a neat white moustache – and said: ‘Oh, Kapoor Sahib, Kapoor Sahib, such terrible news.’
‘What terrible news?’ said Mahesh Kapoor. ‘Have your tenants bribed the police before you could get to them yourself?’
‘Tenants?’ said Joshi blankly.
‘Kapoorji has been writing his own Ramayana,’ said Jha.
‘Ramayana?’ said Joshi.
‘Must you repeat everything? said Jha, who was beginning to lose patience with his friend. ‘What is this terrible news? I know that this Lahiri fellow has managed to extort a thousand rupees from the people. Is that what you came to tell me? Let me tell you that I will deal with him in my own way.’
‘No, no –’ Joshi found it difficult to speak, so momentous was the information he was carrying. ‘It is just that Nehru –’
His face was wobbling with unhappiness and alarm.
‘What?’said Jha.
‘Is he dead?’ asked Mahesh Kapoor, prepared for the worst.
No, far worse – resigned – resigned –’ gasped Joshi.
As Prime Minister?’ asked Mahesh Kapoor. ‘From the Congress? What do you mean “resigned”?’
‘From the Congress Working Committee – and from the Central Election Committee,’ cried Joshi miserably. ‘They say that he is thinking of resigning from the Congress altogether – and joining another party. God knows what will happen. Chaos, chaos.’
Mahesh Kapoor realized immediately that he would have to go back to Brahmpur – and perhaps even to Delhi – for consultations. As he left the room he turned back for one last glance at Jha. Jha’s mouth was open, and his hands were clutching the two sides of his white Congress cap. He was entirely incapable of concealing the powerful emotion that had seized him. He was in a state of violent shock.