Not only has Maharashtra taken the lead in reopening the dance bars but it has taken steps to supervise their functioning, according to V GANGADHAR.
Hats off to the State of Maharashtra. Once again the BJP-Shiv Sena government of Devendra Fadnavis led by example by getting hundreds of the city’s closed dance bars open but also finalising the mechanism for gearing up the inspection teams to supervise the working of the dance bars
Everything is ready for the opening of the Mumbai branch of the Indian Apsara Service (I.Ap.S) a fully recognised branch and offshoot of the prestigious Indian Administrative Service which will function from an exclusive, fully air-conditioned room in the Mantralaya. Home Minister Rajnath Signh was gracious enough to take time off his busy schedule and declare open the branch. Before the function got going, Rajnath Singh and Devendra Fadnavis had a quiet chat on the new venture.
Singh: I was not sure if I could make this function. Things got bogged down, Parliament adjourned taking its own time and I could just make it here. Anyway I was happy to reach on time. The PM was keen I must be in Mumbai on time. Otherwise he would have been
compelled to send Smriti Irani and that would have been a disaster.
Fadnavis: We would have liked the PM to be present and bless our venture, after all the Indian Apsara Service is unique. A couple days back, Barack phoned me during his election campaign to find out how this new venture was going on. With all the hullabaloo over Hollywood and Oscars and Trump campaign, he did not have anything like this Apsara service.
Singh: How is it going? Any problems?
Fadnavis: Shivaji Maharaj willing, everything is fine. Even the Jats, the ABVP, the university boys are quiet. No one is eating beef. My own students are happy over my announcement of a month long closure for Ganesh Utsav. Decided to set up a party panel to inspect the dance bars and its dancers. O what an enthusiasm, even Bhujbal got up from his sick bed and inspect the dancers, if everything was all right And the bureaucracy was on its toes. Mind you, no leave, they were ready to do anything, including checking the dancers’ costumes even the necklines and so on. Never seen such co-operation from Bollywood. That Amitabh may be 70 plus but his energy and buoyancy were exceptional.
Singh: Lucky blokes, you Mumbaikars. In my area the godmen volunteered to help. But I shooed them away including the pest, that Art of Living Bloke. We know how to live, no need for his help.
A bell rings. The inauguration commences.
