Ode-ly enough: Kapil 'poet' Sibal reveals soft side

POLITICS IN VERSE: Kabil Sibal has penned poems on topics like trust vote and romance.

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New Delhi: A poetic ode to the trust vote is among 100 poems that have been compiled in the first book of poetry by Congressman Kapil Sibal. The Science And Technology Minister says, like all other poems, he wrote the trust vote poem on his mobile phone.

“The night after the trust vote, the Prime Minister sent me out of the country for some work. Someone called me to ask if I had written a poem on the trust vote and I said no. He said that I must write on the subject for my book,” Sibal says.

Sibal says he drew inspiration from his ministerial portfolio to pen poems on global warming, nanotechnology, Indo-US nuclear deal, and even the Left allies, among many other subjects.

The Chandni Chowk MP, whose book is titled I Witness, says the poems closest to his heart are romantics ones inspired from his youth.

Interestingly, poetry is not new to politics. While the poetic prowess of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee is well known, celebrated author Shashi Tharoor says that more politicians should be encouraged to write.

He says, “We must encourage and appreciate this book, which has been written by a politician so that more of them start writing. But the worry that some of us have is that many of our politicians cannot even read, forget writing poetry.”