The most important unwritten nostrum of the sycophancy culture of the Delhi durbar, especially of the Congress party, is to suck up and kick down. And that’s the practice followed by the controversial Union human resources development minister Arjun Singh with consummate ease. Recently following a storm after he was reported to have stated that inner party democracy in the Congress under party president Sonia Gandhi is in “a  bit of disarray”, Singh proclaimed that he had made a personal promise to the late Jawaharlal Nehru — India’s first prime minister and the fons et origo of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty which has dominated Indian politics for the past half century (and who’s not available to confirm Singh’s statement) — that he would loyally serve the Nehru-Gandhi family to his “last breath”.

Not that it helped. On May 10 at the eighth convocation of the Jamia Milia Islamia University, Sonia cut the HRD minister dead and instead pointedly praised prime minister Manmohan Singh for his initiatives in education. According to party insiders, Singh has incurred the Congress party president’s displeasure for his inner party democracy remark and also for undermining the prime minister’s leadership by projecting AICC general secretary (and Sonia’s son) Rahul Gandhi, MP, as a prime-ministerial candidate.

Inevitably in keeping with the unwritten rules of the Delhi durbar Singh in turn expects sycophancy as his due. Soon after his being allotted the HRD portfolio for the second time after the UPA government assumed office in 2004, he appointed Prof. Mushirul Hasan as vice-chancellor of Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI). This prompted the learned professor to name JMI’s Centre for Distance and Open Learning after the minister. The centre’s main building, which proclaims Singh’s name in bold letters, was constructed with an investment of Rs.2.35 crore generously granted by the University Grants Commission administered by the HRD ministry. Moreover an avenue within the JMI campus has been christened the Shahrah-I-Arjun Singh in early May.

Evidently even if sucking up doesn’t always work, kicking down does.