New Delhi: “Democracy is a form of government in which people are left equally free to become politically unequal.”–John Mueller, American Political scientist.
Desperation is visible around the corner in the opposition camp. Rahul Gandhi displays his ‘desperation’ by making wild allegations based on founded and unfounded reasons against the Modi government. His latest diatribe was on Vaccination–a day after June 21 when India achieved a record number of jabs to the tune of 86.16 lakh in a single day.
Likes of Yashwant Sinha, Sharad Pawar, and a few aging communists such as D. Raja are also frustrated. Hence everyone has given a spin that after BJP’s defeat in West Bengal, the time has come for all individually desperate–but ambitious–ones to play up their respective games.
At least 21 leaders from different parties held a one-day conclave with western India’s permanent strongman Sharad Pawar playing the host.
In 2001, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar argued that Pawar’s organization is named hilariously Nationalist Congress Party.
The presence of his daughter Supriya Sule at the venue only shows that there could also be personal desperation for the NCP chief as nephew Ajit Pawar often forces him to raise eyebrows.
There was another twist in the tale. NCP leader Majeed Memon volunteered to refute media speculation about Congress being boycotted from the meeting. He added another flavor in stating that Yashwant Sinha, who called the meeting, not Sharad Pawar. The more things the opposition leaders do, the more confusion could be in the air.
In all these, what happens to Indian polity? But before that, what happens to Indian media? They get their masala and a daily dose of sound bytes, tweets, and visuals to churn out daily evening soap operas called debates.
These debates are interesting, if not hilarious, in all English, Hindi, and other regional channels.
Rahul Gandhi has mastered the art of repeated failures electorally and immense success on Twitter.
It’s no longer just a subject of scholarly dispute as to why the social media behemoth decided to play “editor” in India.
There is already a crack the whip phenomenon and a police investigation.
Democracy like the one in India creates a fantastic room for competitive politics. Some of these opposition leaders–if not all–would do well to appreciate the fact that Negativism is a self-destructive device.
The Congress party and Rahul Gandhi, in particular, must gaze in and do soul-searching. They need to analyze their role in adding to the downturn of the opposition-related political mood.
But the hate-prism against Narendra Modi is so powerful that the communists and the Congress did not mind rejoicing their zero scores in West Bengal polls.
The fact of the matter from the eastern state is BJP’s tally has jumped from 3 in 2016 to 77. Of course, Mamata Banerjee has returned to power, but the impression being given is that the saffron party is in control, and the Modi-Shah combo has been thrown out.
Negativism is a disease.
Look at the AAP regime and its alleged role in the ‘oxygen crisis’.
Last year, Akali Dal also jumped on the bandwagon essentially to win over the farmers’ support.
The agitating ‘farmers and brokers’ on the outskirts of Delhi have achieved nothing other than the image of chaos-makers and corona-spreaders since October-November 2020.
Again, there was so much ‘negativity’ that the media, particularly the major print and online actors, hardly argued or dredged up this topic.
Union Minister Smriti Irani, who has successfully pushed out dynast Rahul from dynasty’s fiefdom Amethi, rightly says–”While Gyani Baba is dishing out pearls of wisdom to Honourable Prime Minister, he may like to introspect on the following –
•Where did the second wave start? – Congress-ruled states. Which states had a huge percentage of India’s cases and deaths? – Congress-ruled states”
Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi (as long as she is the Congress president) have to look at the functioning of the Congress-ruled states and Chief Ministers truthfully to get the real clues of things happening on the ground.
That Congress could not return to power in Kerala needs closer scrutiny separately. It also failed in Assam and West Bengal. It did a vanishing act joyfully.
Note Rahul Gandhi’s timing of onslaught against the vaccination policy. June 22 – It coincided with Punjab leaders, and Captain Amarinder Singh talking to some troubleshooters of the high command, and also on the day opposition leaders sat together thinking about a possible third front yet again.
It was a damp squib affair as more than whom all were present; the real analyses went on whom all were missing.
Some argued whether Yashwant Sinha was there at the meeting on his own behalf or as a genuine Mamata Banerjee nominee, both in front of the camera and behind closed doors.
The Bengal press has done their part pretty well to give the push to Mamata’s national ambition yet again.
In 2013 just in the run-up to the general elections, her much-hyped Ram Lila Ground rally had come across a cropper despite throwing the name of Anna Hazare. Did Mamata wish the June 22 conclave of opposition leaders success?
She is a protagonist who knows the art of looking the other way when her interest is hampered.
So much of her friendship that she did not mind writing a letter to all opposition leaders when the going was tough during the poll season. Of course, the grapevine is Pawar was encouraged to organize the meeting after he met with Prashant Kishor.
This poll-strategist also remains a mystery because he has his political ambition too.
What prompted Majeed Memon to claim that Yashwant Sinha organized the meeting is still a mystery.
In between, another city-based politician Arvind Kejriwal of a city-based party called Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also sounding ambitious as he later flew to Amritsar in Punjab and Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The irony is, if AAP does well in some of these states, the victim would be Congress yet again.
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