Intro: Nobody is sceptical about the political observers that the days of the Congress are numbered. It is not sure that how far the Party can sustain under the part-time leadership of Rahul Gandhi, who is back with the games of mud-slinging.
Ending all uncertainties, Rahul Gandhi returned back to India after 56 days of long sabbatical. It brought about much relief to the Congress camp as, so far, their spokespersons were tirelessly defending their leader and expounding his abrupt disappearance. Although all the questions are still remaining unanswered, now they at least know about his whereabouts. The Congress leaders are shrewd enough to manoeuver a jugglery to shut the mouth of those who come up with annoying questions temporarily and evade the public ire which is still haunting the party even after recent election debacles. Hence, Ramlila Maidan witnessed yet another political acrobatic of Rahul Gandhi sponsored by the Congress Party, namely the Kisan Rally.
Primarily, the motive behind the Kisan Rally was the re-launch of their vice president who is still in the glee of the two months long hedonic sabbatical. In spite of that, the drama is staged with an intention to shift the focus from the agenda set by the Government for the forthcoming Parliamentary session. It seems that they also wanted to subjugate the media headlines and sabotage the development agenda of the Narendra Modi Government. To set a ground to their vice president who was completely off stage for a long time, a politically bankrupted party like the Congress had no other alternatives than setting up a rally which is as easy as pie for any frivolous political party. Akin to this, Political pandits analyse that it is an attempt to elevate Mr Gandhi to the post of helmsman of the Party.
Laughably, the former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh kicked off the rally by pointing out that how the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to deprive the farmers of privilege that the Congress had given them. As we now know, Mr Singh’s ‘pro-farmers’ policies have much contributed to the landslide victory of BJP. His introductory speech was well enough to slay the morale of the party workers, if any. Sonia Gandhi accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being insensitive towards the farmers cause. Rahul and his fellow colleagues began with a quibble about the ‘Anti-Farmer’ policies of Narendra Modi Government in the backdrop of the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill which was recently passed in the Lok Sabha during the absence of Rahul Gandhi. “Make in India will not be successful, it is a dream”, he raved. To add spice to his comeback speech, Mr Gandhi coined a new slogan, ‘Kisan, Vikas aur Vigyan’.
In the meanwhile, BJP dismissed the rally as a desperate move to get the party’s scion back into Indian politics and has nothing to do with the Land Acquisition Bill.
For those who expected a well-articulated speech with something new in words, unlike his earlier speeches, it turned out to be a disappointing performance. It also disappointed the party workers who were looking forward to watching their leader hitting hard on the Government with the entire threshold which acquired from the two month long introspection. He missed the Budget Session. He was not in the scene when the Land Acquisition Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha. A political leader who is running away from his responsibilities cannot be considered as a leader at all. It is bizarre a political leader, the vice president of India’s grand old party,who seeks pleasure in privacy, at least in Indian conditions. Rahul Gandhi needs to understand that Gandhism and Hedonism cannot get well along together.
Let us back to the core of the new agenda of Congress Party, their futile attempt for the image makeover as a pro-farmer party. It is pertinent to look back to the policy of UPA Government over such sensitive issues. The looming question is whether Rahul and the Congress has the right to poise a war, a war against the Government for farmers cause as he and his party facilitated his brother-in-law, Robert Vadra to abuse the law and the power to snatch acres of land of poor farmers when they were in power. A clique was active inside the Congress Party surrounding Mr. Vadra, who has been indulged in illegal land deals and snatching farmer’s land at peanuts’ price, to the CAG report tabled in Haryana Assembly last month, specifically mentioned the “undue favours” made to the builders, including the Vadra’s Skylight Hospitality, during the Congress regime. During the DLF controversry, the entire Congress Party came to defend Vadra. In Kerala, Aranmula Airport Scam is another example which elicits the double standard of the Congress Party. In Aranmula, the Congress led Kerala Government and the then UPA Government together made a diehard effort to envisage the corporate agenda to set up an airport on a wetland without obtaining the environmental related mandatory permission.The political parties including BJP and other Parivar organisations, which are in the forefront of the years long protest under the stern leadership of Kummanam Rajasekharan, are still in demand of a probe into the alleged involvement of Robert Vadra and the then Prime Minister’s office. No social or environmental impact assessment had been done prior to give nod to the project. Former AICC member, Mr Pilippose Thomas himself also came forward to oppose the proposed Airport project.
In a recent interview given to The Hindu, while answering to the criticism of the alleged displeasure among the other allies of BJP and Parivar organisations, Jaitely made it clear that he had a detailed discussion within the friendly organisations on the amendments which were proposed to the original Bill. He explained that the UPA’s 2013 Bill is anti-rural because,“It keeps rural areas poor in perpetuity. It prevents infrastructural developments in the rural areas and it also prevented irrigation, rural roads, rural electrification, housing for the poor etc. For people from the rural areas who want to migrate to sub-urban centres and have a better quality of life and for landless labour whose best prospects of getting a job is in industries set up in rural areas. It prevents the creation of industrial corridors.” It is baseless allegation that the latest amendments are in favour of the corporates and industrialists. The provisions of the Land Acquisition Bill insist that the consent of 80 per cent of the farmers is required before the land is acquired by the corporates and private sectors. While criticising that the Government’s reforms are in favour of industrialists, it is worth remembering the fact that private companies and corporates are generating highest number of job than agricultural sector. The six decades long Congress rule has deserted our villages so now the time has come to elevate the deprived classes out of poverty.
While the Congress leadership is taking a pedestrian point of view over this, the public seems to be rather well-informed about all the eleven amendments propounded by the Government. Nobody is sceptical about the political observers that the days of the Congress Party are numbered. It is not sure that how far Congress Party can sustain under the part-time leadership of Rahul Gandhi and occasional politicians like Priyanka Vadhra. So let them continue to be in self-deception and perish.To put an end to the policy paralysis caused by the decade long Congress rule, a radical change is needed from the grass root level. May it be a new beginning!
Ganesh Radhakrishnan (The writer is a freelancer based in Chengannur, Kerala)
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