Rahul Gandhi Version 2.0.0

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

On Sunday, Ramlila Ground in the heart of Delhi saw the “relaunch” of Rahul Gandhi. Those who had thought that the new version of the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty would be better and faster than the previous one came out thoroughly disappointed after the rally. Sabbatical of almost two months and Buddhist style vipassana, tantra or whatever mysterious cult he practiced over the last few weeks, proved to be of no use as he used the same jaded language and took up the same issue on which the voters had rejected his party in the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The anti economic reform rhetoric and leftist agenda which he spoke from the dais was exactly he had been speaking uninterruptedly for the last few years. What was new in this?  So the launch of Rahul Gandhi version 2.0.0 seemed entirely uneventful and bereft of anything new and different. We had been repeatedly told by a battery of Congress spokespersons and those who swear by the dynasty that the new version of Gandhi would be different from the earlier one as he was into some introspection about the party and its policies and come out with the proverbial magic wand for its revival.

Will they now come out and say that the sabbatical, holidays, sightseeing; pleasure trip… or whatever you call his absence has actually benefitted the party?

Why has Rahul Gandhi become the source of biggest embarrassment for the family-run-and-controlled party? The answer is not far to seek. He is simply not interested in politics, not ready for the top job forced on him, not fit to take political responsibilities which his mother and others want him to shoulder. It’s like a great cricketer forcing his son to become a cricketer even though he wants to be become a rockstar or a writer. It’s like a classical vocalist who wants his son to become like him but the son is hellbent on becoming a fashion designer. It’s like someone forcing a journalist like me in his early 40s to become a marathon runner. Sonia Gandhi may be a great political strategist as the arrangement with Manmohan Singh showed, the longest serving Congress President in its history but that does not mean that because he is her son, Rahul too would be as “successful”.

I don’t understand why the Congress, particularly Sonia Gandhi, doesn’t realise that Rahul is simply not cut out to be a politician. He could be anything — a great yoga master, a Formula One driver, a Buddhist master excelling in the finer techniques of meditation, someone who can have a great control on his breath and is excellent in pranayama, a fitness freak and instructor and may even start lessons in positive thinking or giving sermons on religion and spirituality on television. His career, priority and interests lie somewhere else. But Congress wants him to become the party president, an election winning poster boy of the party, someone who inspires youth and is voted to power. I am sorry but they are betting on the wrong person. Rahul has been and would always remain a reluctant politician.      

What we saw at Ramlila Ground was paid Congress crowd, hardly interested in what Rahul or party chief Sonia Gandhi spoke from the stage. From Haryana and Punjab, busloads of people were brought in the national Capital, paid for missing their daily job, provided food, transport and entertainment allowance. It’s anybody’s guess how many of them were farmers.

Ironically the farmers of both Haryana and Punjab are ruing the loss of their wheat crop due to vagaries of nature and trying to somehow convince the procurement agencies that the poor quality of the crop be overlooked while being procured. That is their worry, not Land Acquisition Bill. In any case, farmers in Haryana and Punjab practically get market rate for their land acquired and most of them would rather want their land to be acquired for a quick buck as it saves them the social stigma of selling their land when returns from practicing agriculture is diminishing.  

So when Rahul spoke against the Land Acquisition Bill after his nearly two-month absence from the country, it seemed like a fly by night operator who was forced by the circumstances to say something in which he was neither interested nor convinced. It was like a professional golfer giving lessons on fish farming in a village, it was like a priest in a temple who has been forced to dance in a discotheque. The assembled crowd at Ramlila Ground endured the speeches for a while, had plenty of water and then preferred to go back to the safe confines of the buses and vehicles which had brought them to the venue from different places in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.

It’s not surprising that Congress is vertically divided on the name of Rahul Gandhi as the new Congress President. For the first time perhaps, Congress leaders are fighting amongst themselves and issuing contradicting statements on the name of Rahul. In Punjab, state Congress President Partap Singh Bajwa and former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh are abusing each other left right and centre in public almost every day. While Bajwa wants Rahul as party President, Capt Amarinder wants Sonia to continue.

In Haryana, State party chief Ashok Tanwar and CLP leader Kiran Chaudhry want Rahul, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda swears by his mother.

This is practically the situation in almost all states where Congress has any semblance of presence. A comic situation has emerged where a faction is supporting Rahul for its survival and the other Sonia, forgetting that no one is going anywhere in the family run organisation. They are stabbing each other but raising the slogans of Rahul Zindabad or Sonia Zindabad, to camouflage their bitter factional fight. Capt Amarinder knows that Bajwa has the confidence of Rahul and would not be removed from the post which he badly wants. So, you see him saying that Rahul is not experienced enough for the top job. He knows for sure that if Rahul becomes the party chief, he would have to seek VRS and head for his summer palace in Chail, Himachal Pradesh.

Instead of looking for ways and means to rejuvenate itself and look forward for the challenges ahead, the badly battered and bruised Congress has reduced itself to a laughing stock. Of course, Rahul is one big reason for this.

He has become a butt of jokes on social media. In fact, on WhatsApp and Twitter, most of the jokes are at the cost of the Congress Vice President. How can the party not see the writing on the wall and keep forcing Rahul to accept a job in which he has little or no interest or at best only a part time interest as he has not yet found what interests him the most.  

Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has already spoken about this and so has her son and former East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit. For the first time, Congressmen and women are speaking out against someone from the dynasty. This has never happened in the past. No one spoke against Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi being still a member of the party.

This is happening for the first time in the post independence history of the Congress. Is this political churning of a new kind, only time will reveal. But what is certain is that Congress is riding on two boats at the same time and that only leads to disaster. (April 20, 2015)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/2015-04-19-90447.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/rahul-gandhi-version-200.html

The peg that cheers; Raise a toast to the lovers of Bacchus

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

It is that time of the year when the banners of ‘sale’ have been splashed all over Chandigarh in front of the liquor shops. The lovers of Bacchus are thronging the liquor shops in dozens and coming out with cartons on their heads and shoulders. They are stocking the supplies for the next few weeks and months.

The joint capital of Punjab and Haryana-Chandigarh must be one of the few places in the country where ‘sale’ on liquor takes place annually and this is eagerly awaited by all those who want to save the extra bucks for what they call an ‘essential commodity’.

This attracts people who love their drink from all over the States of Punjab and Haryana and violating the excise law, they carry whatever they fancy and their pockets permit. As the prices this time are 40 per cent to 50 per cent cheaper than “normal” days, the anxiety to hoard as much liquor as possible is writ large on the faces of all those who swear by their drink.

But this time, my focus is on Punjab, which is has now become the liquor capital of the country as its competitor Kerala is facing tough days due to Government policies.

Liquor is a part of life here, what some would term as elixir of life. Something without which an average Punjabi finds his evening bereft of colour and excitement. No wonder the State Government has realised this and the vends here practically supply booze round the clock.

You may not find any chemist shop or a kirana shop open at seven in the morning. You might find that the doctor in the nearby hospital is missing so early in the morning even if you go there for an emergency treatment. You may not find much activity and people on the road. But liquor shops religiously open early in the morning without a fail.

They realise the business potential of opening shops early as some hardcore veterans end their evening hangover by gulping a peg or two in the morning. Only then do they complete their morning chores. Though the official timings of the liquor shops here is 9 am to 11 pm, those who swear by their drink would vouch for the fact that they can get it round the clock without any hitch.

The liquor shops could ‘officially’ closed by 11 pm but from under the shutter of several shops you can purchase your favourite brand any time after that. The liquor vend employees work in multiple shifts and the night shift operator gets in action after the official timings are over.

Even the dry days here are observed by celebrating the occasion with a drink. On dry days, the shops open in the evening and the lovers of Bacchus converge in large numbers to raise a toast to the occasion be it Independence Day, Republic Day or the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Munnabhai in Rajkumar Hirani’s Lage Raho Munnabhai could not find liquor shops on Gandhi Jayanti in Mumbai, but perhaps the director was not aware that at sharp 5 pm, the shops opened on October 2 in Punjab and all brands were available. The friendly neighbourhood bootlegger, who does a brisk business on dry days across the length and breadth of the country, has been pushed out of business in Punjab. The poor chap in the land of five rivers has found some other business.

Prices of liquor in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh too are very competitive, aimed to attract more people, get new converts and also to retain the loyal customers. There could be great swing in the prices of vegetables and other essential commodities but price of liquor has practically remained constant for a long time. A bottle which could cost say, Rs500 in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand or Delhi, could be 30 per cent cheaper in State capital Chandigarh on normal days. Of course during “sale”, this price becomes all the more attractive.

Though there are no official figures nor has any attempt been made to do an empirical study comparing the consumption of water vis-à-vis liquor in Punjab and which of the two is consumed more, but some die-hard fans of alcohol say that the true devout, drinks water only when it is mixed in the drink and not “neat”.

Even the booze shopkeepers and their neighboring shops have become innovative, something rarely seen in other places. For the first time, I found a shop, specialising in selling “drinking accessories”. This was located next to a busy shop selling all sorts of whisky, beer, wine, vodka, rum, brandy and what not. Curiosity got better of me and I examined the shop selling “drinking accessories”. The shop had a list of all the “accessories” used for drinking — soda, ice cube, plastic glasses, peanuts, mixtures, cold drinks of all variety, bottled water, even cigarette for those who smoke while drinking.

The shop next to it was selling another drinking accessory, widely used in this part of the country — tandoori kukkad (chicken) and all its variants like Afghani chicken and the tikkas if one was careful of the bones while gulping liquor. So the list of “drinking accessories” was complete. Booze lovers, some of them fresh from their office or shop going to have their first drink of the evening and others in different levels of intoxication, were coming and purchasing the drink and the “accessories”.

There was a business for everyone associated with the drinks and selling the actual stuff and the accessories. The guy selling readymade clothes and the one selling stationary, were only watching with envy the business generated by their neighbour.

The excitement around liquor shops and the accompanying ‘taverns’ is something which cannot be found anywhere in the country, except perhaps Goa. These drinking dens have become the hotbed of political decision and Governments are made at the moment and dethroned by the intense discussions which take place.

A taxi driver who has obviously seen much more Punjab than I have, sermoned, “If you want to gauge the political temperature of the State ahead of the polls, make it a point to sit here and listen to the conversations”.

I don’t know whether political journalism here seriously means baptism at a liquor outlet. As liquor and popular culture go together in this part of the country, I was reminded of the senior Bachchan’s (Harivanshrai) immortal Madhushala.

Ek barsh me ek baar hi jagti holi ki jwala, ek baar hi lagti baaji jalti deepo ki maala, duniyawalo kintu kisi din aa madiralaya me dekho, di ko holi raat Diwali roz manati Madhushala. Roughly translated, “Holi comes only once in a year and so does Diwali; But come to the drinking den (Madhushala), which celebrates Holi during the day and Diwali during the night, everyday. I may or may not agree. It does not matter. (April 13, 2015)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/2015-04-12-89596.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/the-peg-that-cheers-raise-a-toast-to-the-lovers-of-bacchus.html

Ashok Khemka should follow the bureaucratic Dharma

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

The transfer of senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka by the Manohar Lal Khattar Government in Haryana has triggered a row and invited the wrath of the professional TV panelists who feign shock at the “treatment and humiliation” meted out to the officer. There are other usual suspects who have joined the cacophony without understanding the finer nuances of governance in a democratic set-up. At no point am I questioning the personal integrity of Khemka. By all accounts he has an impeccable track record on this front and even his critics concede that. But bureaucratic efficiency, getting attuned to the demands of the profession and use of common sense is one aspect and personal integrity another. An officer having impeccable personal integrity is no guarantee for bureaucratic efficiency, the way former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could not guarantee a taint-free UPA regime despite being hailed for personal integrity.

So Khemka’a personal integrity is one part and bureaucratic efficiency as perceived by the Government he serves is another. Ideally, an officer should have impeccable integrity and also a track record of delivery of services. It is the latter which is perhaps lacking in Khemka’s case over the years if you keep aside his role as a whistle blower in the infamous Robert Vadra-DLF deal. Haryana Government or for that matter any Government is well within its right to transfer any official it deems fit. Khemka is no different even if he had blown the lid off the dubious Robert Vadra-DLF land deal which made him famous and a nationally known bureaucrat in the first instance. The land deals of Vadra may have given the BJP an effective stick to beat the Congress during elections but no way does it give permanent immunity to Khemka if he does not follow the directions set by his immediate departmental boss, the Minister concerned. If the State Government perceives that its goals, targets and programmes are not being met and an officer is the obstacle, one cannot question its right to transfer the officer concerned.

Khemka was transferred numerous times in his career-on 46 occasions to be precise. He has “suffered” during all regimes—be it when Om Prakash Chautala of Indian National Lok Dal was the Chief Minister or whether Bhupinder Singh Hooda was in command for a decade. When BJP won the Assembly polls and Khattar became the Chief Minister, perhaps Khemka thought that he would be rewarded with better posts and get important postings. He was posted in the crucial Transport Department as a Commissioner, not as an award for exposing the Vadra-DLF deal, but as a routine bureaucratic exercise reshuffle when a new Government takes over.

I do not think that all these transfers in all these years by various Governments—INLD, Congress and BJP—have been done solely with the motive of punishing an honest officer. All these Governments cannot obviously enter into a conspiracy to punish an officer. They have a lot in hand than to think about an officer. Whether the sympathisers of the officer agree or not, there must also be some fault at the doors of Khemka which they refuse to look at. Sympathisers of the officer say he refused to play ball with “corrupt” political dispensation of the day over the years and was punished again and again. They blame the “corrupt” political system for the “plight” of officers like Khemka saying it was high time such a system was changed to protect honest officers.

This is too vague a statement and I do not agree with this. If someone decides to join IAS, IPS or Government service, he or she will have to follow the laid down norms for civil servants. In fact, they have to even follow those norms which are not laid down but understood by every officer in service. When you are playing cricket, you do not follow the rules of football. When in bureaucracy, you are supposed to follow the laid down conventions.  Khemka made the mistake of questioning these conventions time and again. The conventions may be good or bad but as an officer you are supposed to follow them and not flout them. When you play cricket or football you do not question the rules of the game. There is an entirely different mechanism to change the rules.

He had been the Transport Commissioner of Haryana for the last over four months and that was a sufficient time for the Government to judge his performance and whether he fits in the goals set up by the Minister concerned of the Department and the Chief Minister as the head of the State Government. Obviously he didn’t fit into the scheme of things or was in conflict with the policies and goals of the State Government and was therefore shown the exit door and placed in a department which has little or no impact on public policies. As the BJP Government had begun on a clean slate, having won the State Assembly polls for the first time, I am sure it did not have any preconceived notions or bias against Khemka.

What is surprising is the reaction of Khemka on the transfer through his Twitter account. Being in the Government for so long, the 1991 batch IAS officer must be aware that expressing sentiments the way he did is not acceptable to any Government and also does not conform to the bureaucratic dharma. Perhaps this explains why successive Governments viewed him as a “trouble-maker” and not a problem solver. To make the matters worse, he met Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki to express his disappointment after being given the marching orders. Perhaps he forgot that a Governor has little discretion in these matters and cannot issue directions the State Government.

I am not saying that Indian political system treats its bureaucrats fairly all the time. I am also not saying that the political system is very fair and transparent. There are several ills plaguing the system which needs to be addressed urgently. But playing the martyr, like Khemka is doing, is also not the solution. This will not help the cause of bureaucracy. Of course, a wider debate is needed to insulate bureaucracy and police from the whims and fancy of the political dispensation of the day. Consensus has to be reached to bring legislation for this. Fixing the term of officials, particularly those at a particular level of seniority, should be on top priority and is the need of the hour. Also, there has to be a well settled principle on how an official can be removed before his fixed term expires.

Its here where all political parties have to chip in. But then, no party, particularly in the states, wants to voluntarily give up its control on the bureaucracy and the police easily. They want them firmly under their control as they think this is the way to rule. Officers like Khemka would continue to be considered as loose cannons by all Governments and a flesh in their thorn as they do not conform to their expectations and flout the conventions, however faulty they may be. There are around 175 IAS officers in Haryana cadre and if one does not conform to the stereotype, he finds himself in an odd situation. This is perhaps what is happening to Khemka. But as another officer put it, “neither will Khemka change, nor will the State Government, whoever it is”.

Many advocate a systemic change in the relationship of bureaucrats with their political masters. But it is easier said than done. Small baby steps are needed first like fixing tenure of officers and formulating a policy for their removal before the tenure ends. This will be the way of least resistance in the ruling parties. (April 6, 2015)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/2015-04-05-88766.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/ashok-khemka-should-follow-the-bureaucratic-dharma.html

AAP Infighting: Breach of trust with people's mandate

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

The severe infighting in Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which led to the expulsion of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan from the decision making bodies of the party, is clearly a classic case of breach of trust of people’s mandate in Delhi. It is also a grim reminder for the people in the entire country for future elections that whenever they experiment with a new party, they should be careful with their votes and not get swayed only by slogans, emotions and loud talk.

I do not hold a brief for the ousted leaders of AAP but this is not what the party set out for when it was founded. The people of Delhi had not bargained for this and the reduction of an anti-corruption movement for Jan Lokpal in a party of petty fights, where power has gone into the head of a few and authoritarianism, dictatorship and coterie has replaced collective wisdom. The popularity graph of the party, which got landslide only weeks ago, has nosedived to such an extent that surveys say that there has been a complete erosion of the faith of the people within six weeks of the massive victory. Has this ever happened in any part of the world where democracy is practiced? Have the people lost their trust on a Government so soon after electing a Government?

After being elected in Delhi, all AAP Government did was to make power and water either free or reduce its tariff. There is still nothing to show beyond the symbolism. But the greater damage was the way it handled the crisis within and violated the trust imposed on it by the people through their massive mandate. In the process, Arvind Kejriwal, hailed as a great communicator not long ago, proved to be another Manmohan Singh when he refused to speak on the crisis, triggered by the dissent of Yadav, Bhushan and others. The Delhi Chief Minister seems to have learnt his lessons from the Congress where party chief Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi never speak on anything important either related to the party or issues facing the country.

When the campaign for Delhi was being run, people thought that AAP was different from both the Congress and the BJP. While in the Congress, it is Sonia Gandhi and Rahul from number one to number 10 positions, in the BJP it is the strict disciplinarian approach of the party which counts. This is what we thought—AAP would be entirely different, it is a transparent organisation where decisions are taken not at the whims or fancy of an individual or the collective might of a group of individuals but through consensus building. People thought this was the way for the future of Indian politics—common people who had no political background in the past were out to cleanse Indian politics of the ills plaguing it.

AAP has let not only its supporters down but, also all those who were veering to the idea which the party held. What is tragic is it let them down not like no other party has ever done in the past. In 1984 when Rajiv Gandhi won a landslide, it took a year-and-half when its sheen was lost. AAP lost it within 6 weeks. ItRss sad, extremely sad, the way they have blown away the trust of the people.

So, there is no scope for alternative politics now through AAP and no choice for the people beyond the Congress and the BJP at the national level. AAP has reduced itself to a poor cousin of the Congress in politicking, leaders calling each other names and internal party differences. Perhaps Kejriwal himself and his supporters believe that elections are won only through a charismatic leader and what he says and how he communicates with the people. ItRss only partly true. Elections are won when people genuinely believe that the alternative being offered is radically different from the one which they have. This is what happened with the BJP and Narendra Modi in May 2014 and with AAP and Kejriwal in February 2015. Elections are won when a large number of people work for a common cause and an entire team is involved whole heartedly and is committed. A committed and brilliant team was behind Modi and so was behind Kejriwal which included the likes of Yadav and Bhushan.

The symptoms and trend of dictatorship was there in AAP earlier also when sitting MLAs had questioned party leadership and joined other parties. But all was forgotten in the landslide where it won 67 of the 70 seats. Even if Yadav, Bhushan, Anand Kumar and others are removed as primary members of the party, I am sure another crop of leaders would soon rise against the style of functioning of Kejriwal and the way dictatorship is replacing consensus politics.

Moving beyond the reduction of AAP as merely another political party, what worries me is the ground situation in Punjab where the people trusted the new party and gave it a quarter of the votes in the Lok Sabha elections and four Members of Parliament. As AAP has practically decided to become a regional party confined to Delhi, there has been another breach of trust with 34 lakh people in Punjab who had voted for it in parliamentary polls. Those people voted for alternative politics, something which the ruling Akali Dal-BJP combine on one hand and the Congress on the other is not following. They wanted change. Now all that trust has gone with AAP sticking to Delhi and deciding that it would not contest Assembly polls in other States. In the by-elections for Dhuri Assembly segment, a part of Sangrur parliamentary constituency which was won by Bhagwant Mann of AAP in the Lok Sabha polls, the party has not fielded any candidate. This was a great opportunity for AAP making a debut in the Punjab Assembly and use it as a launching pad for State Assembly polls in February 2017.

When people of Punjab voted for AAP in large numbers in the parliamentary polls, they thought of moving beyond the predictable political paradigm of SAD-BJP and he Congress. Now when they see what is happening within the party, there is frustration and the hope is belied. Now, even if AAP tries, it will never be able to break the stranglehold of the SAD-BJP and the Congress given its track record of infighting in Delhi and abandoning the trust of the people of Punjab who gave the then fledgling party four seats in Punjab.

Not surprisingly, Dr Dharamvir Gandhi, the social worker and doctor who defeated Preneet Kaur from Patiala on AAP ticket in the polls, is also on his way out like Yadav and Bhushan. He was the lone Punjab MP from AAP who questioned the way the two were treated in New Delhi on Saturday in the internal meeting of the party. He was the face of change and alternative politics in Punjab and with his possible exit from the party, AAP seems to have lost whatever support it enjoyed in the State. (March 30, 2015)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/2015-03-29-87956.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/aap-infighting-breach-of-trust-with-peoples-mandate.html

Sonia gets aggressive; Congress remains on back-foot

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

 

On Saturday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi visited different places in Haryana to get a firsthand account of the damage which unseasonal rain had caused to the farmers. Earlier, she was in another BJP-ruled State — Rajasthan — to assess a similar damage. Last week, she also led a protest of all the Opposition parties to Rashtrapati Bhawan against the Land Acquisition Bill of the NDA Government.

This is the first time the country is discovering the aggressive street-fighter instinct of Sonia. After the death of her husband Rajiv Gandhi, she preferred to sit and introspect at 10 Janpath for a long time even as PV Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister consolidated his hold over the party and the Government.

In the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime, though she was the Congress chief, she hardly thought of taking to the streets to lodge protest of any kind. During the Manmohan Singh regime of a decade, there was no question of opposing his policy as she was the one who was the architect of most of the policies — beneficial or disastrous.

What is all the more perplexing is that all this is happening when her son and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi has disappeared in thin air, allegedly doing introspection of some sorts. No one in the party or outside knows where is the 44-year-old who has been forced by the Congressmen to carry the burden of the party even though he is least interested in the job.

After a series of disasters, now the Congress leaders have started privately admitting that Rahul is more of a “burden” than a torchbearer of a legacy of the 130-year-old party. They are sort of stumped by the tantrums of the Gandhi scion, not knowing his mind, his political plan and now don’t even know his whereabouts. Some want his so called “Introspection” to last for 2-3 years so that the damage which he has already inflicted on the party is controlled.

Many now see a meaning in Sonia taking to the street in Rahul’s absence. This was primarily the job of a young Gandhi ready to take over the mantle of leadership from her mother in a party where dynasty and only dynasty gets you the top job. As Rahul abdicated his responsibility as the Congress vice-president, Sonia took over the role of an aggressive Opposition leader to keep the party in reckoning.

This was also to show Rahul by example that this is how the politics of Opposition is played in the country — by taking to the streets and not holidaying in a foreign country. At least the death of the Congress could be prolonged by this.

There is another motive behind this. Sonia would continue to be the party chief for more time as she has been warned by the old timers that disaster is writ large if Rahul is given complete control of the party in April. The old guard, most of them close of Sonia, wants the transition in a smooth gradual manner, the way it’s happening right now. Rahul was first made a Congress MP, then a general secretary and subsequently a vice-president.

They fear for the party the way the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty functions. These leaders have made a strong case for postponing the crown for Rahul at least for another two years. “Till he becomes more patient, politically mature and does not run away to an undisclosed destination at his whims and fancy,” summed up a senior leader.

Ironically, the issues which Sonia Gandhi has raised to show her street-fighting abilities do not even resonate with those who are apparently going to be the sufferers. She led the Opposition march against Land Acquisition Bill and so far there is no spontaneous demand from the farmers against the Bill. In Haryana, considered an agricultural State, there has been no protest against the Bill nor has the main Opposition party Indian National Lok Dal come out against it. In the Congress regime itself, the State had come out with a sound policy on land acquisition.

In Punjab, considered the food bowel of the country along with Haryana, no one is bothered as the State has a robust Land acquisition policy of its own. Many farmers in the State prefer their land to be acquired by private parties or the Government because of the hefty compensation which saves them from the humdrum of getting engaged in agriculture where the returns are progressively coming down and those practicing it looking for other rewarding vocations.  

The Congress, it seems, has got stuck in a time machine and cannot look beyond farmers as a constituency. It has miserably failed to find issues to put the Narendra Modi Government in a tight spot. Not surprisingly, even as an Opposition, it has egg on its face.

It raised the issue of political espionage against Rahul Gandhi making a complete fool of it not only in Parliament but even outside it. The Congress has an old habit in suspecting espionage where none exists. Long ago, two constables of Haryana Police were found outside the residence of Rajiv Gandhi and the party reacted by withdrawing support to the then Chandrashekhar Government whom it was supporting from outside.

 Now a poor policeman went to Tughlaq Road residence of Rahul to get some antiquated form filled by his staff and running out of issues, the Congress tried to make an issue out of it and looking for conspiracy theories. The party faced a severe political embarrassment and if it continues to act like this, it will become a laughing stock.

Coming back to Sonia Gandhi’s march to Rashtrapati Bhawan, it was surely a sign of a leader who is not thinking of a retirement any soon. It was also to re-establish her supremacy as a leader amongst the non-Congress Opposition party. Already, the party is working on a strategy to face the BJP by joining hands in Bihar, the next big State where Assembly polls are due later this year.

But clearly, she will have to do much more to get her party back in reckoning. She will first have to clear the air on leadership issue in the party and tell the party cadres and leaders once and for all that she and not Rahul will be in command. Also, she will have to rope in Rahul to work in tandem with him and not pull in different directions as the current impression suggests.

Second, she will have to get a new set of advisers and preferably they should be the young Turks of the party. Gone are the days of arm chair leaders like Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, Janardan Dwivedi, Moti Lal Vora, Ghulam Nabi Azad and others who keep looking at the vacancies of Rajya Sabha and continue with the typical “coterie” politics, which has since long become irrelevant. 

Third, the issues which the Congress chooses to highlight should be broad based. A party cannot limit itself to issues of farmers or workers alone. The party has become a type cast like the formula films of the 1970s and has to get out of this to get new set of supporters and voters in the elections between now and 2019 Lok Sabha polls. (March 23, 2015)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/sonia-gets-aggressive-cong-remains-on-back-foot.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/2015-03-22-87046.html

Do not expect dramatic changes in Congress under Rahul

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

The vanishing act of Rahul Gandhi has led to a lot of speculations and triggered a wave of expectations as to what would happen after his return. A case has been made out where old and new Congress leaders are apprehending a series of changes in the party after the heir apparent becomes Congress president sometime in April.

The more the 130-year-old party changes, the more it remains the same. Rahul Gandhi has been an MP for a long time now, also a general secretary for the party for over half a decade and a vice president for over two years. He is de facto the no. 1 in his party even though his mother is the Congress president.

Towards the close of the last term of UPA, the 44-year-old Rahul assumed almost total control of the party in its entire decision making. Sonia Gandhi merely has the veto power as of now. Everyone in the party and even outside it has seen how he functions, how he speaks in public meetings, what kind of role he plays as an MP in Lok Sabha, and what kind of leadership abilities he has shown over the last few years.

So it would be interesting to see what kind of change is brought in the party structure after Rahul assumes complete control and takes decisions independently without the influence of the old guard. Given the way Congress has been functioning over the years and decades and how Rahul has himself worked, I do not visualise any drastic changes and whatever steps are taken by the new dispensation in the party would merely be cosmetic.

For instance when Rahul becomes the president, his mother could be elevated as the patron of the party or another suitable designation could be found for her. It is extremely difficult to visualise Sonia Gandhi retiring from public life completely in favour of her son.

 This has never happened in Gandhi family, no one has ever retired. Jawaharlal Nehru died as a Prime Minister in 1964 and so did Indira Gandhi when she was assassinated two decades later in 1984. Her younger son Sanjay died in a plane crash in 1980 and the elder son Rajiv Gandhi assassinated while leading his party’s campaign to return to power in 1991.

In Congress like most of the parties, ‘Power’ is worship — a glue which binds the party and Sonia Gandhi must have realised this over the years as the longest-serving party president. Retiring from public life in such a situation would perhaps be the last option.

So the point is even if Rahul becomes party chief, Sonia would continue to hold considerable power in the power structure of the party with whatever designation she has. In such a scenario, Rahul will have to abide by the veto power of his mother. If that remains the case, she will continue to have her own set of loyalists in some position of power or the other.

At the most, Rahul would change or reshuffle a few general secretaries and make changes in the AICC Secretariat. Some old Sonia loyalists like Janardan Dwivedi, Motilal Vora and a couple more may find themselves in the cold. Like Narendra Modi’s Cabinet where the age limit is 75 years, he may bring in a retirement policy and fix an age ceiling for the leaders. Some could be forcibly retired by the young and impatient Rahul. But will that change the face of the Congress? Extremely unlikely.

In the last three years, Rahul has taken most of the important decisions of Congress and almost all of them have boomeranged on the party and proved to be non-starters. The first major decision was to single-handedly fight the Uttar Pradesh elections of February 2012.

 Rahul chose all the candidates, carpet bombed UP with a series of meetings and created a hype, something unheard of in the Congress. The disaster was there for all to see with the Congress barely getting over a dozen seats and all Rahul camp followers having egg on their face.   

Of course, the most recent disaster was the 2014 Lok Sabha polls where Rahul was the Prime Ministerial candidate of the party and Congress returned with the most disastrous performance in the history of Indian elections and failed even to get 10 per cent seats and the position of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.

There were many electoral reverses all the way where Rahul led from the front and except Karnataka in May 2013, the party failed to win even the State elections anywhere in the country. The situation has come to such a pass in the Congress now that it is finding it difficult to win even the municipal polls in States where it had complete control on all the levels of power not long ago. In fact, changes like making Sachin Pilot the President of Rajasthan Congress was entirely Rahul’s idea.

 It did not change the fortunes of the party where BJP got three-fourths of a majority. Making Ashok Tanwar, the President of Haryana Congress too was the brainchild of Rahul. It didn’t have any impact as BJP swept to power for the first time in the State. In Delhi, Ajay Maken, a hardcore Rahul loyalist, has two successive failures in his report card.

 He was first made the media face of the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls by Rahul and the results were disastrous. Soon, the Congress vice president sent him to Delhi as the chief ministerial candidate of the party by Rahul and he not only lost his seat but the party failed to even open its account in the Assembly.

I am not sure if any decision taken by Rahul has proved to be electorally beneficial for his party in the recent months and years. There is no magic wand for Congress and Rahul. The crisis is deep and is there for all to see. Rahul will have to sweat it out in the dusty lanes and bylanes, villages and cities of the country to build a base for the party afresh.

Instead he chose a vacation for no one knows what. He will have to grind it the hard way, innovate new communication strategy and devise ways and means to connect to the youth.  He will have to lead from the front, counter the ruling party more effectively than he has done till now, be accessible to the party leaders and workers and provide answers to the questions which the people and Congress workers want. The million dollar question: Is Rahul willing to do that? Only he will be able to answer it in the next few months after taking over as the Congress president from his mother, if that indeed is the plan. (March 16, 2015)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/do-not-expect-dramatic-changes-in-cong-under-rahul.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/2015-03-15-86272.html

Will Kejriwal fritter away the goodwill and advantage?

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

The stunning victory of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi Assembly election is a stuff of legend. This will be remembered as a watershed in the political history of the country, the way the victory of Janata Party in 1977 is remembered for first non-Congress Government and the way Narendra Modi will be remembered in the annals of history for demolishing political stereotypes in the May 2014 battle.

AAP’s victory was about how a few ideologically close people, guided by a vision for Delhi with a charismatic leader and excellent communicator at helm, started on a mission and tried to realise the dreams they saw.

They made mistakes on the way and fell down but quickly got back to their feet and marched on. Paulo Coelho in his “Alchemist” said when you want something from the core of your heart all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. Arvind Kejriwal wanted to win Delhi Assembly polls desperately and he succeeded in proving Coelho correct.

Less than a month down the line after the magical moment in New Delhi, what is catching the eyeballs now is the differences within the party which was once billed as the epitome of consensus politics. Aam Aadmi Party then talked of taking decisions based on consensus in the style of a panchayat or gram Sabha and even went way past in history to eulogise the way the kingdom of Vaishali practised democracy in the sixth century BC. That was by consensus and through democratic principles of voting.

When the results of Delhi became clear and the unprecedented landslide became clear, Kejriwal warned his supporters not to become arrogant. He said that it was arrogance which had led to the fall of the Congress and BJP in Delhi. He was right. But just four weeks after that speech from the balcony of his party office in New Delhi amid showering of petals, many now say that AAP has for all practical purposes become a one man party and divergent views do not have any place in the ruling party of Delhi.

Has AAP now become arrogant? Less than a week after the famous speech, a ban was imposed on media persons from entering the Delhi Secretariat. Of course, media is intrusive and they will remain so as they demand answers haunting the people from those in Government buildings, Secretariats, State Assemblies and Parliament.

This can’t be a reason to ban the media from a place where you find information. In fact, wasn’t Kejriwal himself also demanding answers all his life ever since he took off from Indian Revenue Service and started as a crusader for Right to Information with Aruna Roy who too had left the IAS and was working for transparency in the system. Didn’t he write letters to Government departments to seek accountability and information on projects and funds related to the people? This is what media does and AAP headed by Kejriwal banned their entry from the Secretariat.

Then you have the biggest question haunting not only the AAP sympathizers but all those who saw potential in the party as a viable alternative to run of the mill politics — internal democracy in the party. This is where AAP would start resembling Congress soon as the culture of party supremo and high command is set to become institutional in the fledgling party.

Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were summarily removed from the Political Affairs Committee of AAP. Though the formalities were observed in removing them, it was clear that it had the stamp of Kejriwal all over it.

Sample this. If Sonia Gandhi or heir apparent Rahul Gandhi wants to remove an AICC General Secretary and also show to the world the facade of consensus, all they have to do is to sound their intentions to the Congress Working Committee. Didn’t we see something similar happening with Yadav and Bhushan? Doesn’t this happen in the Congress all the time? Can the Gandhi family tolerate and accept any dissent or dissenting views in the party? The answer is no. So where is the difference between the first family of the Congress and the supremo of AAP?

What I see here is a personality cult strengthening in AAP, something which is quite common in the personality centric Indian politics. So the talk of practicing alternative politics based on consensus is dead even before it started. Congress has perfected personality and dynasty centric politics over the decades and there are no two opinions about it.

BJP started with consensus politics during the era of Vajpayee and Advani but now it’s evident that Narendra Modi is the epicentre of a new age where personality dominates and consensus takes a backseat. AAP too is similar in many respects where it is gradually becoming clear that it is Kejriwal’s show all the way.

Yadav, the soft spoken and erudite spokesman of the party wants to take it beyond the confines of Delhi to the neighbouring Haryana and Punjab and then to the rest of the country. Remember, AAP won four seats in the Lok Sabha elections from Punjab and none from Delhi in the May 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

In Punjab, Assembly polls are less than two years away and with an impressive performance to boast off in the Lok Sabha polls with 25 per cent of the vote share, it was perhaps the right time for AAP to make inroads in the traditional bastions of Congress and Akali Dal.

What is wrong if Yadav wants to expand the base of the party and contest the Assembly polls in Punjab. In Haryana, AAP decided not to contest the Assembly polls as it was fresh from the defeat of the Lok Sabha polls. The move was resented by many as it lost an opportunity to build cadres and a support base even though strategically AAP felt that concentrating on Delhi was more important so that there was no loss in synergy. But if the party does not concentrate on Punjab where there is a real political possibility, then it would indeed be a great political miscalculation.

No one for sure knows what Kejriwal is thinking on Punjab. When Yadav first spoke about the expansion of the party in other parts of the country after the victory in Delhi, the AAP boss disagreed with him. But when the ground situation is conducive for the party in a State like Punjab, it would be interesting to see what position Kejriwal takes. You cannot become a prisoner of your own idea, let winds of change blow within the party. It’s only when there is exchange of ideas that theories are built and the roadmap for the future is drawn.

If AAP has to repeat Delhi elsewhere, it will have to introspect seriously now. People had enough of the controversies surrounding Yadav, Bhushan, Mayank Gandhi, Anjali Damania, Admiral L Ramdas and others.

It will have to move beyond one personality, one State and will have to quickly discard the Congressisation of the party in which sycophancy and  high command culture dominated and there is little or no place for consensus. (March 9. 2015)  

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/will-kejriwal-fritter-away-the-goodwill-and-advantage.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/will-kejriwal-fritter-away-the-good-will-and-advantage.html

Roots of dynastic politics remain deep

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the tilak ceremony of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grandnephew Tej Pratap at the weekend at Saifai in Uttar Pradesh, giving a great photo opportunity for the Yadav dynasty in politics. The opportunity was rare. Two powerful political families of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are coming together through a matrimonial alliance. Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad is getting his daughter married to the grandnephew of former UP Chief Minister. The two Yadav leaders have also politically come together after ending their hostility of a quarter of a century. This was typical of the days of the Rajas and Maharajas when warring feudal States sought refuge in a matrimonial alliance to end their hostility.

There should be more socio-political and psychological studies on conditioning of voters who favour dynasties. We still have little understanding of the psychological reasons why voters prefer the family members of leaders rather than fresh political talent. Voting on caste pattern may be one big reason. Things may be changing now with the victory of Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi Assembly polls. But still there is a long way to go when birth in a political family won’t guarantee political success within the party.

We know for sure that dynasty and politics go in tandem like a jugalbandi and become natural bedfellows in the country. This is what we have seen in the last few years. Rahul Gandhi becoming the de facto no. 1 in the Congress is the natural process of the malaise which has been set into motion by not only his party but a host of other regional parties in the country.

From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, you will find a series of dynastic leaders at the helm of either governance or the regional parties. Congress is merely the symptom of the disease, which runs deep, across political divide and ideology. None of these regional parties have any system in which leadership quality is scrutinised or the leader is chosen from a talent pool, which is wide and deep. It is only taking birth in the right family, which determines political fate.

In the northern most State of the country — Jammu & Kashmir — it was the father-son duo of Farooq Abdullah and Omar who called the shots till recent Assembly polls. Omar’s grandfather Sheikh Abdullah was the one who made a mark with his leadership qualities, something which continues to be milked by the father-son duo. Besides that, there is the father-daughter duo of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti in the State who managed to outsmart the father-son duo in the Assembly polls. Now, they are set to take over the reins of the State in partnership with the BJP.

Cross over to Punjab. Here, the father-son duo of Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Badal has practically monopolised the entire political space of the Akali Dal. While the father is the Chief Minister of the State, the son is the Deputy Chief Minister and also the President of the Akali Dal. The older generation of the Akalis has been gradually marginalised and beyond the two, there is hardly any leadership except perhaps Bikram Majithia, brother-in-law of the junior Badal. Nephew of the Chief Minister, Manpreet Badal was important for a while but when he fell out in the succession plan of the senior Badal, he revolted and formed his own party. “A son is important, not a nephew,” says the saying in the Akali Dal.

Punjab’s neighbour Haryana isn’t any different. Here, the father-son duo of Om Prakash Chautala and Ajay Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal has been convicted for 10 years each for their role in the JBT scam. With hardly any line of leadership in the party, the mantle has now fallen on another son of the jailed leader and former Chief Minister, Abhay Chautala. It was former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal, the father of OP Chautala, who started this dynastic tradition, which continues in the party without any hitch. State Congress is no different, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is now an MLA while his son Deepender the lone MP of Congress from the State. Haryana Janhit Congress of Bhajan Lal’s son, Kuldeep Bishnoi tried to cash in on the name of the former Chief Minister but has been thoroughly rejected by the people.

In the hill State of Himachal, Prem Kumar Dhumal is the Leader of Opposition and was the Chief Minister till December 2012. His son Anurag Thakur is an MP from Hamirpur and in the BJP, this is a rare occurrence. There is hardly any other example in the BJP where both father and son have made it big into politics. Virbhadra Singh became the Chief Minister of the State in December 2012 and is clear that his son Vikramaditya Singh is being groomed now. The junior Singh could well be either in the State Assembly or Parliament whenever next elections take place.

In UP, Bahujan Samaj Party remains the only party, which is bereft of dynastic politics. Kanshi Ram started the party and never encouraged any family member. Instead, the leadership mantle fell on Mayawati who remained single and can rightfully take a swipe at dynastic politics of her arch rival in the State — Samajwadi Party. The entire family of party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is in politics with son Akhilesh as the Chief Minister and daughter-in-law Dimple as an MP. Then there are brothers and nephews, all in prominent positions in the party and Government. It seems there is no talent beyond the family for the Yadav patriarch.

Dynastic politics was experimented in Uttarakhand too but the voters here rejected attempts to foist Saket, the son of former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna from Tehri constituency in a by-election. Present Chief Minister Harish Rawat too got a party ticket for his wife Renuka Rawat from Haridwar though the voters rejected her and she could not retain the seat won by her husband last time. However, in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) did not encourage his family members in politics. He chose Jitan Ram Manjhi when the situation arose last year for a leadership change. Now he is back as Chief Minister. But his new found friend Lalu Prasad made his wife Rabri Devi the Chief Minister after he was jailed.

West Bengal is relatively free from dynastic politics. With Mamata Banerjee at the helm, Trinamool Congress can rightfully take a swipe at Congress and Rahul Gandhi. Her main opponents in the State, CPI(M) too does not have any tradition of son taking over the mantle from father. In Odisha, you have Naveen Patnaik as Chief Minister who benefited from the legacy of his father Biju Patnaik. In Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Mohan Reddy sought the chair of Chief Minister as a matter of right after the death of his father YSR Reddy. He was denied the post by the Congress leadership, leading to revolt and formation of a separate regional party.

The other party in the State TDP too has shades of dynastic politics though for a change it was the son-in-law of NT Rama Rao, Chandrababu Naidu who inherited or rather snatched the political legacy in a Machiavellian move almost two decades ago.

Like the Akali Dal in Punjab, Shiv Sena of Maharashtra also saw the rejection of the claims of the nephew in favour of the son. The late party supremo Bal Thackeray chose his son Uddhav over nephew Raj to continue the dynastic tradition. Now Uddhav has roped in his son Aditya to groom his as a leader.

NCP too is not bereft of this as both the daughter and nephew of Union Minister Sharad Pawar are practically the no. 2 and 3 of the party. In Tamil Nadu, it is the extended family of M Karunanidhi, which holds fort as the vanguard of dynastic politics. So wherever you look, you see dynastic politics all around. Except perhaps BJP and the Left parties, the political outfits have limited talent pool when it comes to leadership. Congress and Rahul Gandhi are only the symptoms of the malaise which runs deep. “Don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house,” a Congress leader said on the criticism after Rahul was made the party vice president. (February 23, 2015)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/2015-02-22-83985.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/roots-of-dynastic-politics-remain-deep.html

Decimation of Congress complete; but will it rise from the ashes?

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

On February 6, media persons got an e-mail from the office of Rahul Gandhi that the Congress Vice President would cast his vote at 10 AM at Booth No. 88, NP Co-Ed Sr. Secondary School, Aurangzeb Lane, in New Delhi for the Delhi Assembly polls. The idea of the message was simple. Media persons should click him going to the polling booth and show his visuals on news channels and be present at the given time.

I was not present in the polling booth at Aurangzeb Lane in New Delhi but watched the news channels. He did not speak to the media as expected even though those whose mail IDs are with his office had got an invite to be present. Even Congress President Sonia Gandhi spoke a sentence that whoever the people vote would get elected. Her daughter Priyanka Vadra too spoke about the party briefly and also posed for photographs with a lady constable. The one person who seemed indifferent to what was happening around him was Rahul Gandhi, the heir apparent of the 130-year old party or rather the person calling the shots for a while now. He got down his vehicle, walked in a hurry and headed straight for the polling booth without bothering about those whom his office had invited a day before.

The message was not lost. You simply do not even have a well-articulated sentence, something so important in this era when a part of election is fought in media. What was the need of sending that e-mail invite if you only wanted to be clicked by the photographers and shown as visuals on TV? In any case, media would have been present there and would have taken a call whom to click and whose visuals to show depending on its news value.

This indecision and refusal to accept new and changing realities explains the plight of the Congress at this juncture. The exit polls in Delhi showed that the party which once ruled the Capital for 15 years has now become a history. The way Rahul Gandhi and others in the party are moving will surely help it make to the history books faster rather than an electoral force to reckon with. Gandhi not only looked indifferent to the Delhi polls but also seemed like going through the motions of campaigning. He seems to be clueless as to what is happening around him and in the party and how to tackle it. He has simply allowed the party to drift and at this rate, soon it will hit the point of no return.

The Delhi polls are as much a story on the rise and rise of the Aam Aadmi Party as the decline of the Congress. No one knows where this decline is headed. To the bottom, some say. It has now become a party of leaders as all the cadres have deserted and the entire support base shifted towards AAP, which is 128 years younger than Congress.

Recent political history suggests that wherever Congress has been reduced to the third spot in polls, the party is finished forever. This trend started in Tamil Nadu decades ago and the party is yet to revive itself. In Delhi they are now reduced to the third spot, a political guarantee that the party would never be able to revive itself anytime soon. In Haryana, it got into the third spot barely four months ago behind BJP and Indian National Lok Dal and seems to be limping in that state in Delhi’s neighborhood. In states like Uttar Pradesh, Congress is comfortable being fourth and in Bihar no one knows where it stands.

So the signs are clear. If the Narendra Modi wave is subsiding, the default beneficiary is not Congress but a third political party. Congress does not have the wherewithal and infrastructure to prevent the slide from a point of no return. Congress style of politics has simply gone out of currency and the party has refused to accept it. There was a theory in the party that after the Modi Tsunami ends and “normalcy” returns to electoral politics, Congress would be the default party of choice for the people. This is the theory which exit polls in Delhi have rejected completely.

As elections are the lifeline of political parties and the indicator where they stand vis-a-vis their rivals, a situation has arisen where the Congress leaders now fear polls. Somebody told me an analogy. For Congress, elections are like examinations where the poor student knows it has to sit for three hours and watch others writing but does not know the answer of any question.

The next electoral battle would now be fought in Bihar where it could be held as early as April given the fluid electoral situation after chief minister Jeetan Ram Manjhi revolted against his benefactor Nitish Kumar. Here Congress is expected to join in the alliance of Janata Dal United and RJD and would get a humiliating number of seats—may be a dozen odd seats out of 243 to contest. For how long will the party continue with the façade that for the sake of secular unity and to defeat communal forces, it will accept humiliation with closed eye?

Delhi should serve another lesson for the Congress and it should use the opportunity in Bihar to come out of the slumber. It’s time to reinvent and rediscover itself and there is no better way of doing it as early as possible. Bihar elections should be the starting point for the party rather than another election, another humiliation and setback.

The most important aspect for the party should be to shed its baggage of the past. This included advocating poverty to the point where it alienates even the intended beneficiaries. The economic policies which talks about subsidies and freebies and not about a vision for the youth and future too should be shunned. Most importantly, it cannot remain a private limited company in the grip of a dynasty forever. The talent in the party has to feel that it can one day reach the top.  At present, they know that at best they can be Ministers of State or PCC President of  state so that they can never be a challenge to the mediocrity which Rahul Gandhi represents. 

If Congress does not reinvent itself, and there are no signs of it, sooner or later, even the leaders would desert the party. Workers and cadres deserted it over the months and years while the leaders waited and are waiting. But for how long? The Gandhi family is no longer glue which can hold the party forever and guarantee electoral success. Rather it is becoming a burden for a large number of sincere Congress workers glued to its ideology of secularism and an umbrella like formation under which divergent views, ideology, castes and communities thrive.

Now, it was time to take stock of things, tighten the seat belt and look forward. But for that to happen, the Gandhi family, particularly Rahul Gandhi, has to take the lead and go for an overhaul which includes a diminished role for himself and end of personality cult in the party. Is he ready for that? Only time will tell. (February 9, 2015)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/2015-02-08-82300.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/decimation-of-congress-complete-but-will-it-rise-from-the-ashes.html

DELHI elections: The potboiler of politics

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

The advantage or disadvantage, whichever way you look at it, of a standalone election is that everyone gets involved in it to the point of being obsessed. This is perhaps happening with Delhi with almost everyone in the country glued on to the latest potboiler of politics, discussing, dissecting and analyzing the possible outcome.

Recent polls have proved that personalities have their own strength in electoral battles and ability to connect to the people through effective communication skills and oratory add to the abilities of a political leader. Narendra Modi has shown it to the entire world what effective and impromptu communication can do. He has shown that it can win elections handsomely combined with strong issues.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi believes that what Modi is to the entire country, Arvind Kejriwal is to the national Capital. Modi ji aap desh sambhalo, Dilli hum par chhod do (Mr Modi, you take care of the country, leave Delhi for us) is the punch-line which is attracting the people combined with the slogan of Paanch saal Kejriwal (Five years for Kejriwal). The symbolism inherent in similar messages coined by the campaign managers of BJP was quite apparent and effective in the May 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Fast forward it a few months to February 2015 and you find the same is helping AAP gain new grounds now.

BJP knows the pulse of the people better that any other party at this point of time in electoral history. Modi magic is yet to wear off. Victories in assembly polls in states like Haryana and Maharashtra where it was never a serious player suggests so. In Jharkhand, BJP was always a strong player so the victory was not much of a surprise. Now in Delhi, BJP is playing on home turf—a state which has always been a stronghold of the party even since the Jan Sangh. But there is a difference this time round. The Opposition also has a personality which is attracting the people, at least at the local level. Kejriwal too is blessed with a good communication skill and knows how to connect with the people like Modi. He too is an excellent orator like Modi and knows how to involve the people in his speeches like the Prime Minister.

So there you have. An interesting contest is unfolding.  As AAP and Kejriwal had made the battle tough, BJP decided to bring in a general in Kiran Bedi to join the war of personalities. Clearly, it wanted to prevent a war of personalities between the Prime Minister and the former Delhi chief minister and divert it towards Bedi. But there are pitfalls of projecting someone as the chief ministerial candidate as it isolated other claimants for the top job.

Whatever they say in public, BJP aspirants for the job are a dejected lot and some of them see themselves becoming irrelevant in Delhi politics forever if she indeed wins and occupies the top job. Someone like say Dr Harsh Vardhan, Jagdish Mukhi, or a couple of more leaders, may not have excellent oratory or communication skills but they are well networked in the party, having worked for it for decades. It is this section which is disappointed, has serious reservations on Bedi and sees a dark future for it once she becomes the chief minister. If the BJP old guard is not enthusiastically participating in the electoral battle, it should be seen as a natural human tendency.

The old guard of BJP still has some hope. If BJP wins, Bedi would be the chief minister. But they also know that she would find it extremely difficult to survive in the world of politics as she is strong headed, non-compromising and self opinionated individual. Bedi had always been a very poor subordinate, known for her thumbs down approach toward her seniors in the IPS. She has never been stable in any of her postings in the past except perhaps as DG Tihar Jail and in the United Nations. In both the places, she was hardly expected to report to anyone. But in politics, you have to be answerable to every party worker, MLA and Minister. So some in the BJP say that even if the party wins and she becomes the Chief Minister, it will be extremely difficult for her to survive beyond six months.

And what if there is a hung assembly and BJP is precariously close to the majority. Obviously in such a situation you need a hard-nosed politician well heeled in the local party affairs to win support of Independents and others. Bedi does not fit the bill there too and that leaves a chance for those who have worked up their way in BJP for decades.

Looking beyond electioneering, what is surprising is BJP putting all it has in the polls for a state which is yet to get full statehood. Modi is addressing a series of rallies himself and so is party chief Amit Shah. Top Cabinet ministers of the government and chief ministers of BJP ruled states are out campaigning and seeking votes. Ministers are addressing press conferences every day and asking Kejriwal questions, effectively turning it into a battle of personalities rather than issues. Clearly, the party itself is to blame for making it a David versus Goliath election. In sporting events, people always tend to support the underdog and though politics may not play out as sports, the underdog nevertheless here is AAP.

Interestingly, AAP has no star campaigner except the party boss himself, little funds to match the bigger parties, has faced a series of desertions, comprises largely of amateurs with little experience of politics, but its fighting instinct is not only intact but also strong. Perhaps this is born out of agitation and the ability to charter a path which is not marked and lineated. Surveys before the polls suggest a battle of equals which indicates how AAP has managed to hold on to its support base despite Modi emerging as the hero of the middle class in all parts of north and west India.

Though Modi’s honeymoon with the voters of the country continues and people have little or no grudge against the central government as of now, people of Delhi have a chance to compare the performance of other BJP state governments which were formed in the recent months. There is a growing realization that there is little or no break from the past government models and governance in states like Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand where BJP won recently. Citing those states, AAP is promising a break from the past models of governance and change. This is perhaps attracting the people in Delhi and helping AAP retain its support base in the Capital. 

For Congress, whose entire vote base of the minorities, residents of unauthorized and Jhuggi-Jhopri colonies, urbanized villages and a section of the middle class, has shifted to AAP, it is indeed a tough time. There is nothing for the party to show that it is on the revival mode. The latest controversies surrounding leaders of the old guard—Janardan Dwivedi (praise of Modi) and now Jayanthi Natarajan (allegations against Rahul Gandhi) has once again shown how it has become a house divided. The party requires time, opportunity and new strategy to take Modi-Bedi combine in Delhi and Kejriwal. Of course this needs time, another five years before Congress becomes battle ready. Till then, it would remain in political hibernation. (February 2, 2015)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/delhi-elections-the-potboiler-of-politics.html