Political Diary
New
Delhi, 1 January 2019
Celebration
Kis ki Aur Kya?
POLITICAL
WARLORDS OF BHARAT
By
Poonam I Kaushish
How does one begin an epitaph of the year
gone by? Uncork the champagne and roll out the drums? By welcoming 2019 on the
wings of new hopes, dreams and promises? Or twelve months of steady downhill
with no barrier to stop the slide?
Clearly, 2018 will go down in history as a mixed bag.
Politically, our netas followed the dictum ‘might is right’ and operated like
Warlords of Bharat with an inured sense of justification peddling grandiose
dreams of a dysfunctional system choreographed to suit their vote banks. 2018
will be remembered as a year wherein Parties gerrymanded vote-shares to appease
voters with the sole objective of the winner taking it all!
The BJP’s electoral defeat in Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh along-with by-polls earlier in four Lok Sabha and 11 Assembly seats spanning 11 States
where the NDA won just three of 15 contested spells bad news for the
Party and signals to the Opposition that local-level unity can defeat it. Ditto
was the case in Karnataka where Gowda’s JD(S) along-with Congress outwitted it.
Worse, the NDA has lost two allies, TDP in Andhra and RLSP in Bihar while the
Shiv Sena, JD(U), LJP and Apna Dal etc are wanting a larger share.
Undoubtedly, the Saffron Sangh is to blame
for the mess it is in today. Perceived as a “fundamentalist Party” which revels
in cultural intolerance, minority lynching and cow politics, its goodwill of
ushering in achche din slowly
dissipated as its Government fell short on promises: Economy performed below
expectations, dissatisfaction in rural belt, urban apathy and angry youth for
Government’s inability to generate jobs alongside communal polarization and
erosion in its vote-share which might not pay electoral dividends.
Questionably, is Modi vincible? Is the
Hindutva card past its expiry date? Is anti-incumbency
and Opposition’s arithmetic of unity putting brakes on BJP’s electoral machine?
Were these polls a dress-rehearsal? Or will they be prophetic?
Certainly, 2018 belongs to Congress’s Rahul
who transformed from ‘Pappu’ to
President and wrested three heartland States from the BJP. Also, Opposition Parties
bandied together showing they could bury rivalries for electoral gains. Be it
UP’s Bua-Bhatija Mayawati’s BSP and
Akhilesh’s SP or Rahul’s Congress and Gowda’s JD(S) in Karnataka and
Congress-TDP in Telangana. But whether this will hold in 2019 might not be
easy, given the disparate aims and agendas of Parties that will have to pull
together: Should it be led by Rahul or a regional Mahagathbandhan?
Amidst this political aakrosh, the common man continues to struggle for roti, kapada aur makaan with an
increasingly angry and restive janata
demanding answers and yearning for change in the New Year. Sick of the
crippling morass of our neo-Maharajas with their power trappings and suffering
from Acute Orwellian syndrome of “some are more equal than others” and Oliver’s
disorder, “always asking for more”.
On the social front things are depressing.
Seven decades post Independence, after spending trillions on education, health
and food, 70% people continue to be hungry, illiterate, unskilled and bereft of
basic medical care. Increasingly, we are getting more casteist and communal
whereby a distraught India is searching for her soul under the increasing
onslaught of intolerance and criminalization.
Tragically, nobody has time for the aam aadmi’s growing disillusionment with
the system which explodes in rage. Turn to any mohalla, district or State, the story is mournfully the same.
Resulting in more and more people taking law into their own hands and borne out
by the increasing rioting, looting and burning of buses. Capital Delhi is
replete with gory tales of road rage resulting in murders. The system has
become so sick that women today are being raped in crowded trains with
co-passengers as mute spectators. Sporadically converting the country into andher nagri.
From ‘ghar-wapsi’
programmes of reconversion of poor Muslims and ‘love jihad’ against Muslim boys
enticing Hindu girls professing marriage to Me-too India stood singed as
beastly tales of Her Story tumbled out of sexual harassment, molestation and
assault by politicians, celebrities, actors, authors, admen, musicians et al. Clearly, in a society which lives with the regressive
mindset that freedom and equality for women tantamount to promiscuity, we showed
utter disregard and disrespect for women, whereby they continue to rot at the hands of lecherous, predatory or pedophile men
despite talk of women empowerment.
Indeed, ironic post the Lok Sabha passing the
Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill criminalising the practice
of triple
talaq. The legislation is a game changer which will have rippling effects
for times to come. Not only will it unshackle 21 Century Muslim women trapped
in archaic medieval Personal Laws but also give them a leg up to equality
before law and protection against discrimination on the basis of her gender by
underscoring Islamic feminism as modern, notwithstanding Opposition objection
of targeting a minority community.
Not only societal changes, our economy too needs
a new disha and resurrection.
Undeniably, post demonitisation, NaMo and Co seem to have lost the way and appear directionless and at wits end. They have
failed to address the central problems of inflation, agrarian crisis
(agriculture production has dropped) and rising unemployment. Will ending the
financial year with GDP growth of 7.2-7.5% alleviate the misery of the people,
crippled by the onslaught of rising prices?
Worse, two RBI Governors and Chief Economic
Advisors have quit in a span of four years. Disillusionment and discontent
among farmers is spiraling with rising suicides, even as the Government readies
a grand farmers relief package. A classic case of too little too late.
A recent Gallup survey found Indians rated an
average of 4 on a 1-10 scale down from 4.4 in 2014. While 14% felt they were
thriving four years ago, only 4% echo the sentiment today. People unable to
afford roti-subzi rose from 28% to
41% in rural poor and 18% to 26% in urban areas. Sadly, the aam aadmi continues to be fed on ‘jumlas’ in the hope empty boastful
rhetoric will satiate his hunger.
Alas, there doesn’t seem to be a rainbow on
the political horizon. People are adrift clutching at straws seeking an
alternate, which is elusive and ethereal. The BJP-led NDA is down in the dumps
but whether the Congress or in-the-air Mahagathbandhan
is in a position to provide an alternative is still in doubt.
True, we get the
leaders we deserve. But at the same time are the netas worthy of us? Are we going to mortgage our conscience to
‘small minds’? Either way our leaders need to curtail the peoples’ angry
torrent. The time has come for the masses, especially its silent majority, to
think beyond the country’s petty power-at-all-cost polity, throw out the
scoundrels and bell the political cat of convenience. Time to bring probity and
morality into our national life.
As India enters 2019 our netagan need to stop
getting their shorts in knots over excessive trivia, get their act together, take responsibility, amend their ways
and address real serious issues of governance. The people want jobs, transparency
and accountability. Enough is enough. We need leaders with grit and
determination who can and are ready to build a new India. Tough times call for
tough action. But the moot point: Who will emerge victor? Is he capable of
tough action? Does he have the will to assert: Yes, India will in 2019! ----
INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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