Disastrous
Politics:
Against the
Backdrop of Cockroach narratives that took off from the Chief Justice of
India, NEET and CBSE issues raised a serious question on the manner in
which the government is handling the situations.
It seems the North
Block could not reinvent the integrating mechanisms of the political
integration of new generation communication systems for the chaotic public
order shaping in the country. When alliances encounter failures for more than
one occasion, unpredictable eventualities are bound to happen. Those who are at
the helm of affairs handling various sensitive segments of governance had
loyalty towards their political affiliations out of power. The designs can be
to the extent of merciless public injuries to sensitive issues that can
create unrest in the younger generation, Trade and business
establishments of identical nature will be affected at several pockets that may
look as if accidental local accidents, but in a chain reaction it will have an
overall devastating effects in the economy.
The ruling
political party , if it adopts Manmohan Singh policy of cooling heals when the
public ire fumes, it would be a sign of overconfidence, leading to
self-destruction .Before dissecting the Cockroach
Janata Party, the political observers should look at the real
picture of the two major political parties of the day.
Congress elected a Party President two years before
the 2024 General Elections as it did prior to 2019. Sashi Tharoor in his late
sixties and Octogenarian Mallikarjun Kharge became
ceremonially contested to democratise the electoral process.
Kharge had at times felt uneasy over the indiscipline
among the audience at his turn. Though he is the Party President, what
matters is the voice of Young Gandhi's. Mallikarjun Kharge had a long political
career in his home state Karnataka and at the Centre. He was a Cabinet Minister
and Leader of Opposition both at home and in the Rajya Sabha. Even if he
is ceremoniously holding the post of Congress President, he is a known figure
in the National Capital and rest of India.
The projected Prime Ministerial Candidate Rahul
Gandhi has been vigorously campaigning against the ruling BJP and
throwing his ire straight to the people. His thoughts, dialogue and action is
nor so far synchronised with the mindset of the people of the country in order
to uproot both BJP and the Prime Minister along with the soil they stand
on.
On the other side,
BJP became reduced to one and only central figure Narendra Modi. If an
average Karya Karta is asked about the President of the party-
majority in the country hardly knows. The pattern follows from the
takeover of the Chair from Rajnath Singh by Amit Shah. Till Rajnath
Singh, BJP presidents had a proven track record and working experience in
Parliamentary politics and strong presence in the central politics. The shift
to Amit Shah was seen to assert the control and authority of the Prime Minister
in the Party and Government. His successor JP Nadda was drawn from
Himachal Pradesh, and was moulded into the fold of the Modi -Shah camps.
As the National President of the ruling party at the centre, he could not use
his cult to save the party from a big loss in the 2022 elections in his
home state. Elevating Nitin Nabin , from remoteness of
localized politics to chair the party at the national level, sounded
as if the BJP is rolling out a Sand Box Experiment in
leadership strategy.
Power Behind the
Throne has been an unquestioned political mystery of India, so far could
not be properly reconstructed. Beyond doubt. The concept has roots in the
political manoeuvring that emerged from the spying over the movements of
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in Germany. The political fate of India changed
from the Indian Information Bureau and the concealed Soviet interventions of
Stalinist regime to opt for Socialist political leaders of independent
India. The model was duplicated in 1965 by the “Goongi Gudiya” and culminated
in the 1969 split in congress. “Goongi” to “Goonga” followed the course of
disintegration of the order in Congress. Then, the Power centre of India
looked as if in a Trapped State which resounded 7 Race Course Road as
more or less an identical phenomenon near to the Asymptotic Theory
in Physics. At that point of time. any Political Party surfacing with
a leader who has a powerful voice would have run over the
electorate to emerge as the Prime Minister.
Emergence of
Narendra Modi cannot be attributed solely to Hindu Consolidation or mandate for
Hindutva, instead , it was a frustrated India that brought him to
the helm of affairs.
Rahul Gandhi, nicknamed Pappu, launched Academic Lectures abroad following the course of Lecture Tour campaigns of his grandmother. .
Irrespective of
the strings pulled by the media alignments what matters would be the
reciprocal behaviour of the leaders of various parties.
A new beginning
was set into motion when the Congress Party took a dramatic step to the
leadership from Sita Ram Kesari to Sonia Gandhi, soon after the general
elections of 1998. The poor performance of the Congress party was a serious
setback. The party went by the general notion of Popularity of the Party
President as the key factor in electoral dominance. Atal Bihari Vajpayee
emerged as the NDA leader and took over as the Prime Minister within four days
after the leadership change in the Congress Party. In the next elections, BJP
projected LK Advani as the Prime Minister material pitted against the Congress
President though the party kept silence over the Prime minister if
the Party cleared the deck. There were certain deep rooted regional sentiments
in the influential states that was inherited during the Pre independence days,
which decided the fate of BJP.
The Vajpayee
Government was one of the best governments till then, and had put
India into a new track and orientation in economic growth, international
relations and conflict management. Yet, the defeat of the party was not
properly assessed.
It would be
improper to agree with the political observers on the consolidation of
Hindu votes as the key factor for the mandate of BJP. From the
nearly 25% vote share in 1998, within the next 12 to 13
years, Manmohan Singh Government created a frustrated Indian Public. A weak
Prime Minister and Force of Power presented political
weakness and suffocation, with corruption and modesty of women
rising public disorder.
The Congress had
to fight back. The party failed to read the colour change in the societal
fabric. An adverse campaign in 2014 opened up the dialogue between Hindutva and
Hinduism. Unprecedented assertions by Manmohan Singh send a different message.
If the projected BJP candidate Narendra Modi had won, the reaction of a
generation would strike the chord and mainstream India would fall into the fold
of Hindutva.
Again, the
Congress returned to the 1998 strategy of changing the President of the Party.
Towards the end of 2017 , Rahul Gandhi was elected as the President of the
party., He sounded a new dynamism to counter BJP and the command Narendra
Modi enjoyed in the country and abroad. “They defame; we respect
and defend” idealism of Rahul Gandhi could succeed to reinvent the Congress as
a “grand old young Party” is a different aspect of Indian Politics.
The Party elected an Octogenarian as the
President, Mallikarjun Kharge. However, situations did not end up
as with that of Jitendra Prasada who gave a challenge to Sonia Gandhi in
2000. She continued for 17 years till her son inherited the
position, with no rival candidate. He vacated the chair after the party was
decimated in the 2019 elections. However, it can be said that Rahul
Gandhi too has adopted Manmohan Singh -Sonia Gandhi relations in
his relations with Kharge. The old school theory of reclining politics surfaced
and Rahul Gandhi made an effort to draw the party workers and sympathisers back
to the streets and formed a new political front. Though the 2024 elections
could make some difference, the I N DI front remained as a leadership folly
with no mass base, a repeat of VP Singhs Janata Dal experiment of 1989.
The 'Love
Shop" of Rahul Gandhi may be mocked and decried. The reality is that the
love shop has sold candies of hatred against Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.
From a massive mall, the trading of love finally became reduced to Kiosks and
in small pockets/ The cry of loss of jobs, opportunities and large-scale
migration abroad has become an antagonistic campaign against the Modi
Government. His sharp attacks on the economic situation of India cannot
be taken as an amusement piece for the ruling BJP. It trickles deep into
the unsatisfied and unemployed youth who cannot look for anything beyond
“Service for Jobs”. In between the frequent attacks on Theft of Votes-
Vote Chori sounds as a sweeter candy thrown to the public. His words are
finely crafted and calculated as he calls the situation an “Economic Storm”.
It is time for the BJP to keep their feet firm, watchful of the overall situation. Every mechanism operated by the opposition could not overthrow the government or score in the election. India has a reluctant population prone to self destruction with enough potential to create chaos at any point of time. So far the impact could create disruption in some states for different issues. Every effort is made to bring it to the fore on a national agenda after the success in Nepal and Bangladesh. Only road block against such an experiment is the presence of RSS. Situations like that of Hathras. Immediately after BJP gained power, a weakened congress, secured the background settings for radical Muslim outfits ton exploit the space created by the Dalit Consolidation. At the time of the 2024 elections it was clear that “Continuity for a third term has a lot of intricacies. It cannot be a straight election. Big powers are opposed to India having a powerful political leadership. The decisions of Narendra Modi in the matters of Defence Preparedness, Make in India and most importantly, the change in the mindset of the upcoming generations is unprecedented and is not welcome for those who envy the economic growth of India. Narendra Modi - JP Nadda combine seem to have a campaign strategy to overcome the stake of international interests in the political decision making of India. The Cards are open in the game plan. Will it make it difficult to have an anti BJP Front in reality? All parties will try to keep their score intact , rather than throwing the mantle to Congress.” (FB 11 Feb 2024) .
Choice of Party Presidents , Key Functionaries and Chief Ministers and Cabinet Ministers holding key portfolios should be based on popularity and their affluent language to address the crowd. As and when they handle serious and sensitive matters, general public and the opposition party leaders should get a sense of gravity and grip in their words, Convincing the people even the wrong as the right, buying time and douse the fire and rage of a provocative situation has to be the calibre of the Ministers in any Government. If the Chief Minister is to take the call for every matter and the Prime Minister is the only one who the people would like to hear, such political leaderships would be nothing less than power centric.
In the NEET and CBSE issues, the Union Minister of Education could not be convincing. Transferring CBSE Head and ordering high level investigations are routine ways of handling by a frozen inactive government . The Ministers have to be bold to ask the people to proceed on leave and suspend them, adopt corrective measures and physical presence to the concerned offices for verification are anticipated by the people. It is where a senior Party President steps in and if needed ask the minister to step down and recommend the matters to the Prime Minister. The situation here is that after Rajnath Singh , BJP do not seem to have a proactive Party President.
On the Other side , the Congress High Command , that
was the hope for the party in a crisis time proved to be fatally
indecisive. The decision on the Chief Minister of Keralam was delayed for more
than what could be expected . Rahul Gandhi failed to assert his
command to appoint his trusted aide KC Venugopal. It was said that Priyanka
Gandhi had intervened and she decided on VD Satheesan as the CLP leader. Other
side of the emotional wave sent across was the involvement of Muslim
League. Rahul Gandhi abandoned Wayanad Constituency and is in his ancestral
bastion playing a safe card. Priyanka is from Wayanad and she has to listen to
the large mass base of Muslim population of her Constituency. Whether the
realities are the same or not , the rumour mills have its own impact.
Immediately as the situation in Keralam was put
to rest, the State of Karnataka came under political turmoil. The twists and
turns finally saw the elevation of DKS to the stage.
The Ruling BJP government need not have to ring alarm
bells on the virtual reality of a digital political venture. The second term of
Narendra Modi Government was not at all palatable to the Opposition parties.
There should have been certain cautious steps, measures and changes within the
party and its top leadership. The signals were strong for an innings defeat of
the Modi Government in the 2024 General elections. The return of Narendra Modi
to stay back at 7 LK Marg marked the beginning of a new political
engineering to raze down the splendour of the Prime Minister as a
nationalist and his agenda of Economic transformation as global leader.
Any political leader of a third world
country ventures to formulate an economic design that poses any threat to
the stability of the Super powers, all those leaders will be either brought down or
eliminated. There are only a few leaders who challenged the Supremacies and
survived, but all cannot. IF BJP failed to understand the basic Doctrine
interventionism, it can only be said to be “unfortunate”.
