THE LITERARY meet in Kolkata Book Fair has virtually become a battleground for politicians and authors. In the name of discussion and interaction, gauntlet flinging continues. Be it Chetan Bhagat or Imran Khan – all have arrived to vent their ire publicly.

On January 30, Khan, the legendary cricketer of sub continent could talk of cricket when Sehwag is about to replace Dhoni after the Indian cricket debacle in Australia. But Khan is more occupied now with the political tug of war in Pakistan. Quite expectedly, he spoke as the Chief of Pakistan’s Tehreek –e-Insaf party and expressed his concern for restoration of true democracy in his country.

What book lovers gained from this interaction, they could better tell it that day. True democracy is an illusion in Pakistan and Khan knew it better than many. The whole country may finally slip into the hands of terrorists. Now nearly half of the country is gone to them. ISI is monitoring the activities of those heading the government.  What steps Khan would take for commanding the terrorists and for keeping them under restraint, as the Prime Minister of Pakistan if people elect him for the post, not a single word was spoken by him.

But other things are loudly told in the midst of claps and felicitations. The Chief of the Tehreek-e-Insaf Party was quite elated and he looked quite confident as he showed during his fast bowling days. Khan would ensure insaf (justice) for the Pakistani people. He has been saying all these for the last ten years. In the last two elections Khan, the hero turned to a big zero. His supporters were not constant in their commitment and his philanthropic activities did not reach the other side of political boundary with all his vigorous campaign and vibrant gestures. His promises that were fulfilled till now did not go beyond raising one of the largest hospitals of Asia. That certainly was no criterion for becoming even the titular head of Pakistani democratic system.

Even in the session ‘Cricket, Politics and Pakistan’ in the Kolkata Literary Meet of the Book Fair, 2012 nothing more concrete was envisioned by Khan. Politics is far different a thing from Cricket. He now knows it better than many in Pakistan. But the mask that he tried to wear has now grown into his face. He cannot tear it off and talking politics instead of Cricket is almost an imperative for him. This has frustrated the book lovers as well as the cricket lovers of Kolkata. People knew the title of the seminar which included cricket too. But Khan for most of the time spoke on politics. The long press meet could not compensate for it. If the power cut did not take place, Khan might have talked cricket at least for a few minutes. That was the only consolation for the visit of this eminent cricketer –turned- politician of trouble-torn Pakistan. He appealed to all those who attended his lecture to wait till the coming elections. He envisioned a big change which should not prove to be a mere display of overconfidence.