The muffler man has the last laugh

When a national TV channel flashed 67-3, I, for a moment, thought that it was the customary Pakistani score card in a ODI cricket match.  On reconciling with the electoral reading of the Delhi election results, Arvind Kejriwal was declared as the man-of-the-match, who showed in no unequivocal terms that he can sweep and reverse-sweep.  The Delhi verdict clarified that there were few contenders, most of them  comprehensively swept under the rug. The Congress party scored a golden ‘duck’ and the paltry three seats confirmed the BJP humiliation complete.

The common man was taken casually for someone who wears muffler to fight cold and cough. But here is some one who showed he can fight the mighty and the corrupt, too.  Whether the vote is against Modi or Bedi, the clear winner is Arvind Kejriwal, the muffler man had the last laugh. If 1977 were Janata-wave, 1984 Rajiv Gandhi-wave, the 1989 V P Singh-wave, 2015 can be named a “Kejriwal-wave”, partly denting the 2014 modi-wave.  Sniffing that the Bedi-factor may not work, the BJP drafted the entire central leadership for the campaign. The phenomenal political event may well have major consequences for the national domain, as the 67-3 score-card applied the brakes on what looked like an unstoppable pan-India ride to power.  Rarely has there been an occasion in Indian politics when a party scripted such a massive victory, reminding the AIADMK-Congress alliance winning 225/234 seats in 1991.

While this victory is AAP’s defining moment for the future, the 46-year old IITian showed that agenda can outsmart propaganda and desisted from indulging in counter-smear campaign.  Calling him “urban naxalite”, bhagoda (runaway, escapist) and more, never behoved a Prime Minister to get down to name-calling.  When Mani Shankar Aiyar derided the chaiwallah, the PM was backed, but the latter did not replicate the courtesy. A few more vitrolics, AAP would, probably, have scored a centum – 70/70.  The recent attacks on the churches had its share in affecting the BJP’s poll prospects, the muslim-vote seems shifted in AAP’s favour.  Mind you, it is not a photo-finish, but a landslide victory.

Wake-up call

No state election is referendum of central government.  Good or bad central government affects state election results, not vice-versa.  But ensure that it doesn’t become one, as we all know only too well it doesn’t take long for a spark to become an inferno. BJP, nevertheless, exposed its vulnerability in a direct contest. In 2013-14, the Congress party was left bewildered by the AAP which came from nowhere to steal its thunder.  Arvind Kejriwal deserves standing ovation for his dare-devilry in making substantive inroads into the national parties, one after the other.  Though AAP did not win a single seat in Delhi in the Lok Sabha election, Kejriwal remained steadfast to his ground.

The voting pattern showed that it was a mass exodus from Congress to AAP.  Usually a vote lost from Congress goes to BJP.  But this time, it went to AAP, and in a big way. The electorate reckoned that a Congress vote is a wasted vote. Apart from maintaining positive posture, AAP also had the grace to seek apology from the electorate for its earlier missteps. The ‘broom’ swept clean and revived the sinking ship, the democracy, exhibiting the presence of a much-needed opposition.

                                

Modi should take the onus for the Delhi debacle, else there is little to distinguish him from the dynastic ‘Gandhis’.  BJP’s enormous resource base had to give way for the ‘common man’, happily showing democracy is not dead, yet.  Thousands of people including students, lawyers, retired professionals, college professors and housewives see AAP a new phenomenon which renewed their faith for a better future of the common man.  The story of AAP, in fact, is not just its story, but a story of the people, reinventing politics and themselves.

AAP must move beyond fighting corruption.  It is vital for Kejriwal to have a strong cadre before taking policies to the masses. Having said that, running a political party and maintaining a vibrant cadre is tough especially  in national scenario and we have many examples where many parties failed to maintain their establishments and shut their shops after one or two general elections.  Praja Rajyam Party in Andhra Pradesh started by the matinee-idol Chiranjeevi failed to reach its expectations, so is Uma Bharathi’s Bharatiya Jan Shakthi Party.  Former IAS Officer and often considered to be an intellectual bureaucrat Jaya Prakash Narayan’s Lok Satta too could not move into the masses.  These cases show that the vote bank and election foray in India is altogether a different and a difficult game that a person like Arvind Kejriwal needs to tackle with.

The common man’s life has been miserable by the unabated price rise. FMs,  Planning Commission officials and advisory councils have been ad nauseum assuring that the prices will go down, while the common man remains in dark.  If Kejriwal makes even a small difference to the popular perception of politics, he will have done a lot.  And Kejriwal will surely experience for himself the challenge of practising politics without its attendant ills.  People of  Delhi have sent a strong message to the politicians and political parties how they should behave.

If political honesty is oxymoron, Mr. Kejriwal, the mandate has bestowed you a chance to dispute it.

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Congress, good riddance

“India has won.  Good days are coming again”, tweeted  a beaming and victorious Narendra Modi.

The Congress touched its lowest ever tally in the 16^th Lok Sabha election, raising  serious questions about its political future.  The party failed to open its account in some states and could not reach the double digit in any state.  The 128-year old party has been pulverised, the results corroborating it as a rejection of “dynastic politics”.  The last nail has been hammered on the coffin of the Congress party’s brand.  People showed that they can be ruthless in punishing erring parties.  The Congress party is synonymous with corruption.  On the poll day, the people dutifully discharged their electoral obligations, remembering  2G scam, coalgate, CWG scam, DLF-Vadra scam …. the list is long.

The BJP has finally become an all-India party, winning seats all over the country on its own, not in just a few states.

The Sonia Gandhi’s Congress fought this LS polls not to win, but attempted more on a negative agenda – to prevent Modi  from becoming the PM.  They also mistakenly believed that the Advani-Modi fraction will play to its political gain.  They did not show anything to convince about development, containing inflation and job creation. 

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination over two decades ago created sympathy wave for his widow Sonia Gandhi.  No such tragedy happened this LS polls.  The Nehru-Gandhi label has lost its sheen in India.  This election has recorded more of youth electorate, for many of whom Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi are mere historical figures, and for others also it becoming a distant memory. 

It is also not surprising that Rahul Gandhi, given his political IQ, is unable to bring any significant impact for the Party in the recent polls.

The anti-corruption movement initiated by Anna Hazare and subsequent emergence of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) firmly generated the anti-Congress mood.  The 2G scam (2010) triggered the momentum for the impending disaster.  The think-tanks of the Party failed to foresee the writings, let alone take any corrective measures.  They sucked and looted India like parasites.

 A serious wake-up call

It calls for a forthright introspection.  If you think of internal reforms, this is the first reform: Self-critique.  The party is rudderless.  When you are routed in an election so badly as the Congress has been, you might not even see yourself in the Opposition. “Enough was enough” is the resounding message of the people.  A BJP victory can be synonymously dished out as Congress decimation.  Interestingly, the verdict says it loud and clear that no price is to be paid to any LS Member to help forming a government. 

If Modi, in the next  5 years, doesn’t commit any blunders, even if he doesn’t do anything good to the nation, it will be good enough to bury the “dynastic party” to its abysmal depth.

The political role of the Indian National Congress must have been long over.  Mahatma Gandhi demanded this soon after India attained independence.  The Congress today is only a fake avatar of the original Congress party of stalwarts and freedom fighters.  Sadly, the bankruptcy of Congress has seen to it that it had to rely on foreign origin, once led by Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and the likes.

Can new leaders be created?

Is “Charismatic Priyanka” , wife of the land baron who is the very definition of cronyism, the answer for the future  of the Party?  That opens up a bigger debate.  If yes, will it tantamount to undermining the Rahul’s role?    Rahul Gandhi, probably a boy was sent to do a man’s job?  The Gandhian appeal, name and dynasty suddenly and instantly crumbled.  Or, Congress sans dynasty can make a better equation?  Or does the equation opens up a choice of a defunct outfit?

Let the national party sit in the Opposition for a full term and contemplate on quality governance.  A tall ask, of course.  For the Congress, the task is to rediscover itself.  One way is the Party must cooperate in the House.  A rethink from the Party’s perspective is certainly warranted, urgently. 

If you see in a different perspective, the Congress party has no worries about its future.  If Congress tows the Nehru dynasty, the party has no future and has no worries.  Whereas, if it builds up a new party independent of the Nehru family, then it needs to worry about how to contest and win the elections in the future.

It was arrogance to the extreme when the Congress President and Vice-President showed no respect or appreciation of Indian voters for their democratic maturity.  The two have clearly demonstrated that they don’t belong to this land. If any self-respecting Congressmen from the original Indian National Congress  is still left in the Party, he should file a petition with the Election Commission to bar the trio (Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka) from using the Congress name any further. Those who offered tea-boy’s job will have to stand in queue to apply for sweeper’s job in Modi’s office.

Mahatma Gandhi saw its birth.  It will be Sonia Gandhi who will be overseeing its demise.

It is a fall which will be good for the country. Amen.

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Also read:

http://kmurthy608.blogspot.in/2014/01/mani-shankar-aiyar-hosts-tea-party.html

http://kmurthy608.blogspot.in/2014/01/congress-then-and-now.html

Dr.Manmohan Singh’s tenure : A corruption decade decayed the system

In a rare press conference, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh called Mr. Narendra Modi as a “disastrous choice” if he becomes the Prime Minister, in addition to declaring that  he will not seek the PM’s office for the third term.  Mr. Rahul Gandhi will be the appropriate choice with all the credentials as the Congress party candidate, Dr. Singh added.

I am not a big follower of politics.  I, however, happened to watch the entire press conference yesterday (03/01/2014) and it left me with a disgusting impression.  When Dr. Singh was long ago introduced to the parliament, for a moment I thought that we are going to be blessed with a statesman amid tainted politicians,  but yesterday I noticed to see the body language of an apologetic guilty-Singh.

It was childishly ridiculous that Dr. Singh gave a clean chit to himself during his tenure for nearly a decade.  During his interaction with the media, he mentioned that history would be kinder to him than the media and the opposition parties.  He floated the flippant theory that most scandals of UPA-2 occurred during UPA-1.  It is unfortunate that he sought to take refuge that people endorsed Congress to power in 2009, desperately attempting to ratify the wrong-doings of UPA-1.  It was also sickening to listen to him when he bid to distinguish between his personal conduct and the performance of the government.

His utterances lacked even political logic.  Dr. Singh accused Mr. Modi  of “presiding over the massacre of 2002 riots” in Ahmedabad.  That the Supreme Court has already cleared Mr. Modi of all the charges is public knowledge, Dr. Singh’s allegation against Mr. Modi amounts to reviewing the Court ruling.   Can somebody clarify that under the recently enacted Lok Pal Bill, can a contempt petition be filed against a sitting Prime Minister?  As a PM , Dr. Singh could have, nay, should have initiated appropriate action against Mr. Modi.  Yet again he exposed his inability in saving the situation.   In the same breath, did not Congress party instigate the anti-Sikh riots in the aftermath of Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s assassination?  Applying Dr. Singh’s formula, are we to believe that Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was a “disaster” for presiding over the 1984-riots?

For once, I was able to observe a decisive politician in Dr. Singh.  The more he smacks of Mr. Modi, make no mistake, the more stronger the latter will be.  Hate speech against Mr. Modi only diminishes Dr. Singh’s stature.  Or is it that Dr. Singh is subtly playing the self-side goal as a settling score to the ignominy he suffered  all these years in the hands of the Gandhi family? After all, when it comes to politics, there is no permanent friends or foes!    On a serious note, it felt like a contrite looser talking to media, not like a PM of India.

The best joke comes when he says that Mr. Rahul Gandhi has outstanding credentials to become the PM, showing how low sycophancy can take you down.

Hopes were aplenty with the people, because as a former bureaucrat before joining the government, Dr.Singh knew all kinds of inefficiencies existing in the bureaucratic system.  Alas, he failed to apply his knowledge for the improvement of the economy.  Or is it because he had to work under remote control?   In the whole of media comments and analysis, I found one thing common – corruption and inflation, huge issues we are facing today.

Pause for a moment.  Recall the series of scams – Common Wealth Games (CWG), Adarsh Housing scams,  2G scam, Coalgate – to name a few.  If you can restore the swindled amount, the Finance Minister will be presenting “Surplus” budgets, year after year; and I don’t have to pay Rs.100/-for a kg. of onions.

Or does he want to come to the open and say that the black money or hoards of it, all these, are due to “coalition partnership”?   Well, if you want to enjoy power, you should as well take ownership, Dr. Singh.  Or does he want to say that these are entirely the misdeeds of the Congress alone and the “beneficiaries”  have taken monstrously unfair leverage of the meekest PM we have ever had?  Or does he want to say the Congress had used the most qualified PM, as a shield and made him the obvious scapegoat who will be blamed for the Congress’ failures and the party will emerge out of this whole shoddy affairs as an unintended victim of a  bad prime-ministership and in the same stroke Mr. Rahul Gandhi will emerge as the savior?  Or at least, does he think that he could have done a better job as a Finance Minister than a thankless Prime Minister?

The reality is that after 10 years to Dr. Singh and 60 years to Congress, we are flooded with scams and rapes and inflation.  The people are visibly angry and disappointed.  Public opinion is severely against the Prime Minister and the Congress government.  India is potentially a rich country, but its fortunes are stolen by a few and stacked offshore.  Dr. Singh has grossly failed to communicate effectively what his government was, is and intended to do to curb corruption at high levels.  The anger and anguish of the people shoots because Dr. Singh is most educated and a seasoned economist.   He is relating the inflation to international economic changes.  Is the price rise happening in all countries?

But as a top leader Dr. Singh should know not the price increase, but the rampant corruption that led his party down in the recent assembly elections.  He can explain the price rise and always say it was beyond his control, but it would have been qualified statesmanship if he had taken  cognizance that corruption was the chief factor for the crisis.  Never in free India’s history has food inflation touched the dreaded double-digit.  All the hopes aspired by the people of this country are belied, thanks to the spinelessness displayed by the technocrat-turned-politician.  Sadly, he was unable to rule or control.  The people of India should be very careful in exercising their franchise.  Even if they poll for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the coming Lok Sabha elections, it tantamounts to allowing the same corrupt Congress through the back door.

Yet with all the failures, Dr. Singh still claimed that he was not a “weak leader”.  He has dented his goodwill.  His arguments were totally indefensible.  Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has paved the way for Mr. Rahul Gandhi and Mr. Narendra Modi, leaving the government with a legacy of guilt and shame.After all, there is a huge gap between a good man and a good Prime Minister.

Let historians script their documentation.   Can we simultaneously expect the PM-in- office-not-in power, Dr. Singh relax and pen a memoir annexed to his conscience? 

Jai Hind!