Spotlight
New Delhi,
15 February 2020
Congress In Doldrums
NEEDS TO CHANGE LEAF
By Proloy Bagchi
That politicians are
mostly despicable, perhaps need not be emphasized. They are aggressive and
vicious where their interests are concerned. However, they should maintain
decorum within the Assembly’s four walls. Alas, even that is slowly
disappearing. Outside when making political speeches they just let themselves
go at each other. Certainly, one can describe them as bounders of unspeakable
conduct.
Recently, there was a
ruckus over a statement made by Rahul Gandhi about Prime Minister Modi.
Speaking at a Delhi election rally on the issue of unemployment he averred in
disrespectful language, “young people are going to beat up the Prime Minister
after six months with sticks and he would not be able to come out of his house.”
In Hindi there are
two ways of communicating. One, with senior or elderly person. Two, regular
intercourse with friends and family which is or can be shorn of usage of
respectful words. Rahul used the latter kind of language which immediately hurt
the sensibilities of sensitive people. The hatred for the Prime Minister that
he has nursed all these years came out in a torrent.
No wonder there was a
ruckus in Parliament the next day. Nobody was convinced by Congressmen and
their supporters arguments which could justify this kind of uncivil language.
In fact, Congress and BJP MPs almost came to blows. They tried to circumvent
and even evade the issue by raking up other issues and disallowing the Health
Minister from replying to a question raised by Rahul. But thanks to the commotion
created by both sides it led to the Lok Sabha adjourning briefly.
This is not the first
time that Rahul has played this kind of a game with Modi. Once in the Parliament a few months back he suddenly
got up from his chair walked towards the Treasury Benches and hugged the Prime
Minister without any apparent rhyme or reason. Taken by surprise, Modi hugged
him back. However, Rahul marred it by winking to his colleagues. Indeed, one did
not expect it from his lineage.
Rahul, is the fourth
generation of the Nehru family in Indian politics but never has such disrespect
to other MPs or Opposition Party members been shown in the past by any of his
predecessors. Nehru was respected by all, be it in Government or Opposition.
Recall, during the Chinese
debacle he came under tremendous pressure and even offered to resign but Congressmen
told him politely that the Party would decide when it was time for him to go.
But the time had come for the then Defense Minister Krishna Menon to go.
Significantly,
despite this defeat, never was an impolite word uttered by anybody in the Government
or Opposition. Certainly, those times were different when people, especially
politicians, were more gentle and polite, more civilized.
Alas, Rahul seems to
display immaturity many times along-with many of his ilk who generate hatred
for the BJP by spewing nasty words and deeds. Not to say, the Hindutva Brigade
is any less belligerent. Needless to say there is no love lost between the two Parties
and their constituents.
Now that BJP is in
power there is a sneaking feeling among Congressmen that the Saffronites are
the usurpers. Having ruled for decades, the Congress thinks that it has a rightful
claim to India’s throne. Hence, the Party’s First Family is hostile towards its
bête noir and Modi and always indulge in nit picking.
Indeed, the
Congress’s anger and hatred against the Prime Minister dates back to the time days
when Modi was Gujarat Chief Minister. Remember, during campaigning for the Gujarat Assembly Sonia
Gandhi him as “maut ke saudagar”.
The ‘secular’
Congress tried its best to nail Modi for the deaths during the Gujarat riots
but failed for lack of evidence. He was cleared of all charges by all Courts
including the Supreme Court. But the ire and hatred against him lingered on.
Perhaps those were
magnified manifold in the 2014 general elections when Modi and BJP romped home.
Unfortunately for them, Modi returned to power with a thumping win in 2019 and
the Congress was relegated so far back that on both occasions it failed to qualify for being
considered as the main Opposition Party for nomination of Leader of the
Opposition. Any wonder unpleasant relations between the two Parties continue
and frequent undesirable barbs are thrown at each other.
In the recent Delhi
State elections though the BJP has been beaten hands down by the Aam Aadmi
Party, the Congress has been relegated to irrelevance as it was unable to win even
a single seat. Clearly Rahul Gandhi’s rants against the BJP and AAP proved to
be of no avail for the Congress. Looks like, the Party is heading for self-destruction
by persisting to choose its President from the Gandhi family.
Mercifully, Rahul has
openly told people that he would not like to don the mantle of the Party President
and has repeated this three times. Hopefully, he means it and the Party will go
back to looking for a new face which is not from the khandaan but from “the open market” so to say.
Undoubtedly, the Grand
Old Party has to realize that the Gandhi dynasty is progressively becoming too
huge a weight for, it so much so that because of them, “power” is receding away
from it. Even the induction of Priyanka Vadra has not made
any tangible difference to its performance at the hustings. ----- INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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