Chapter 31:
"I heard you were shot," Arnav said the moment he entered the room and saw the healthy looking politician.
"Three shots were fired at me during my morning walk Arnav. Thankfully the shooter was lousy at his job," Rathore said nonchalantly. Arnav looked at Shukla with an unreadable expression and turned quickly before it could be interpreted.
Along with Arnav, Khushi, Shukla, Malvika and Payal had walked into Rathore's study. Rathore looked at the entire brigade and smiled wryly.
Noting Rathore's smile Arnav offered an explanation. "We all need to sit together and talk. And probably plan for coming weeks." Rathore couldn't read Arnav then.
"Where were you all these days?" Gupta exclaimed ignoring Rathore-Arnav exchange. "Where did you find them ACP Singh?"
"Arnav and I were being held by a radical group father. They, with their misplaced sense of judgments and notions of changing the world believed that Arnav and I shouldered the weight of the political world. Those people released us today." Khushi said glancing at all the lawyers. Sampat met her gaze without hesitation. Khushi added, "I guess we aren't needed for their cause anymore." She smiled inwardly when Sampat blinked.
"You are purposefully being obtuse," Gupta frowned. Khushi shrugged.
"What did the man want from you?" Arnav asked looking at Rathore. Rathore looked confused. "The man who called himself Shyam Manohar Jha," Arnav added helpfully.
"How could you possibly know that…?" Rathore trailed. By looking at Shukla, he knew immediately. Clearing his throat Rathore said, "He wants me to support his agenda by giving my support after elections. But when I asked him which party he represented, he didn't say anything."
"What was his bargaining chip?" It was Payal who asked that question. Payal had already had a run in with Rathore before and she had an idea what was going on. They weren't naive to believe that some guy could walk in to residence of a powerful politician and bully him.
"I am a politician Payal with a long standing history with various people in this business. He just dug up some unwanted skeletons from my closet and threatened an expose – something that should be left buried." Rathore kept his voice neutral.
"What is it?" Khushi asked leaning back on sofa and sipping on tea. There was challenge in her eyes which Rathore couldn't endure.
"They are skeletons Khushi – let's just leave it at that," Rathore said holding her stare. He didn't see the discreet glance exchanged by Khushi and Arnav as soon as he turned to look at Gupta.
"Do we know who these people are?" Arnav asked the room.
"I did some digging after I last spoke to Rathore sir. There have been many such meetings around the country where offers were made. Separate offers have been made for party workers, MPs and high ranking administrative officials of the parliament." Payal said pulling out photographs. "Samaj Kalyan Party isn't spared either." She handed the stack to Khushi who looked skimmed through the photos quickly. "And then there are disappearances," Payal said.
"What do you mean?" Arnav asked already knowing where this was going.
"Supreme court judges, lawyers known for their integrity, humanitarians, bureaucrats, diplomats, corporate lobbyists, scientists, advisors, police officers…anyone who is on top of their field or is known for bipartisanship is gone; they are either on a very long vacation or relocated to different country or retired completely. It's weird and scary at the same time," Payal added for good measure.
"Is it possible they were threatened to retire?" Arnav asked. Like us? The words were unsaid but it hung in air between them.
"It's possible. No one is ready to talk about their resignations. They are all seemingly happy and pursuing different jobs or just enjoying their retirement." Payal replied.
"On one hand we have shuffling of ministers, MPs and MLAs and on the other hand officials are threatened to resign." Arnav said. "Two groups with different agenda?" He asked turning to look at Khushi. They already know what Akash was doing so it wasn't too difficult to piece it together.
"How can you say that for sure?" Sampat asked quietly.
Arnav didn't respond immediately. Keeping his voice neutral he replied, "It's an intellectual guess sir by looking at the way they have operated." It was he who wanted to know everything and didn't care much about revealing to the lawyers and the politician. "Of course I could be completely wrong about it," he said in the same neutral tone.
"It is possible that you are being threatened by one of these groups and it isn't the one which abducted you," Shukla said to Arnav. "We looked at the website where threats were posted. Your abductions weren't made public for couple of days and in those days Khushi continued to receive threats. So the radical group which kidnapped you isn't the ones who are threatening you. Your theory of two groups holds good." Shukla finished. "And then there is Shyam Manohar Jha."
"Excuse me?" Arnav asked, genuinely surprised.
"I have found at least seventeen people by the name Shyam Manohar Jha between the ages of thirty and forty claiming to be journalists. The man who visited this property was also carrying same credentials." Shukla said.
"That's strange," Khushi frowned. "It almost sounds like a cult following for the man." She observed. "Did he have that kind of following when he was alive or right after his death?" Khushi asked her father. Gupta bristled at the direct question.
It was Saini who replied. "Khushi, Shyam had many followers and some of them were right extremists. With the dicey political arena, several extreme right supporters sincerely believed in Shyam's published works. I was a political consultant to the emerging Janata Party back then and I have seen people openly accepting some of Shyam's agendas without as much as a run of the mill opposition deposition. Shyam's political analogy was majorly anti-government, pro-religion and pro-labor. Indira Gandhi invested largely into industrialization and labor unions have traditionally had issues with overt usage of machinery. All this added up making several diverse political groups accept his ideology," Saini said.
"We believe that Krishna Kumar and Prasenjit Sarkar could be two people running the extremist group." Gupta said.
"That doesn't sound right. A communist and a religion extremist coming together to fight for a singular cause is never heard of," Arnav flatly refused.
"Don't be too sure of the definitions you have learned in textbooks about people embracing a specific ideology Arnav," Saini said lighting up a cigarette. "We are far from following definitions to a T. What everyone here wants here is – power. People have reinterpreted classical definitions of communism and socialism for their benefits Arnav and we are after all power-mongering mortals; we are no slaves to ideology. We believe what works for us," he said closing his eyes and allowed the smoke to travel through his lungs slowly.
"What makes you so sure that it's them?" Arnav asked.
"Intellectual guess work," Saini said mockingly. Arnav smiled humorlessly at that.
"What about the other group?" Rathore asked. "The ones who kidnapped you two," he said pointing to Arnav and Khushi.
Khushi shrugged. "They could be anyone sir. Their agenda could be as simple as resisting the government to, like the other group, a cult with specific following."
"What is it that you are not telling us?" Gupta asked staring at the two.
"I don't see why you are thinking that I am hiding something father. We were locked away in a property where we couldn't hear anything of the outside world. We were giving food and bed and were mostly left alone." She said raising her voice a little.
"It's possible that our abduction was a mistake." Arnav said cottoning on Khushi's thought process. She was keeping their abduction as generic as possible so as to keep it from the group but Sampat knew exactly what they were talking anyway. It didn't matter how much he knew anymore. He was part of all the conversations from past few weeks and stripping him off wouldn't help them in any way. It would only complicate things further.
Rathore interjected. "So we have two groups eying for political power in the country. Why now? Why are they playing it out in this election?"
No one responded for several minutes. Khushi chuckled mirthlessly. "It's because the people of this country are tired. They are tired of waiting for politicians to fix the country but in return they see the country going down the hell hole even more with every election. Political parties and media together have successfully eluded people of the rights that they have by spewing out garbage about Bollywood or Cricket or some scandal. The country gets scarred over and over again thanks to people like us. So a rebellion, if that's what it is, was inevitable. This is democracy Rathore," Khushi's voice was hard and she had dropped the politeness a mile away. "Democracy still exists in this country in a fragile form in men and women with integrity towards service. People have been systematically robbed of their intellectual capability, moral responsibility and sincere feeling of belonging. You should be thankful that these groups haven't come together to over throw current government or organize a military coup. Then the so called political power that all you politicians are after is going to be the noose around your neck; higher the power, vulnerable target you are," she added bemusedly seeing how color drained from Rathore's face.
The silence that followed in the room after Khushi's speech in the room was deafening.
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