Resist Time-Warp Politics

Resist Time- Warp Politics

We find ourselves in an Indian political world of a quarter of a century ago. Some of the old players  are here still on stage, denying their vision of the past. Other new ones, are curiously mouthing old lines, thrust through a crack into a time-warp, a rewind.

We are being consumed by reactiveness and drift that is increasingly reminiscent of the late 1980s before the reforms began in 1991. Reforms begun under this very same Prime Minister, but then Finance Minister, following orders then- as he is now.

And the old hyphenation between India and Pakistan has just been put back on the table by visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry. There is no one here in the MEA or the PMO who is indignant about this. There is not an official word on it.  We have shrunk.

We seem to have no will to defend our interests. We choose to ignore insults and slurs. We have become good at tunnel vision, seeing only what we want to see.

We see ourselves with a role in Afghanistan. One that Kerry finger- waggingly told us to assume. That it is on par with a Taliban backed by Pakistan and the US, conveniently escapes us.

We are to do their bidding for our own sake, as a Talibanised, armed, Pakistan and America backed Afghanistan, is on our doorstep geographically, and not on America’s. But, as we and they have seen, terrorism cannot be so neatly contained, even as America seeks to disown the problems in Afghanistan now.

It is as if the intervening years of growth and pride since 1991 for India have disappeared down one of Alice’s rabbit holes.  The Government is playing garibi hatao in new bottles with occasional forays towards roti, kapda aur makaan as well.  It has the same disdain for good economics that Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru had.  Rajesh Khanna is smiling down on us through the time-warp reminded of his superstar days which go back even further. He might just send for his haathis and join the fray.

But surely, there is a thread of rationality, groundedness, that is in the here and now, in the present, in 2013, with some people uninfected by this general fantastical  malaise?

Mr. Narendra Modi does not sound like he’s from yesterday, despite the fading chorus shouting Godhra, Godhra 2002, or Ishrat Jahan, despite her proven LeT links, every time he speaks. He is demonstrating faith in the future, even as he links his vision with that of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, who did not want Kashmir to have a special status under Article 370.

Modi links with the glory days of Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, our former Prime Minister, who saw his way to make great progress for the country, inclusive progress, despite the compulsions of a large and unwieldy coalition.

Narendra Modi, BJP’s prime- ministerial aspirant, goes to Uttarakhand and does something to help and console. He helps evacuate 15,000 Gujaratis because he is Chief Minister of Gujarat. There is a chorus of protest at his presumption.

Rahul Gandhi, The UPA’s heir apparent, is missing; he’s gone to Spain, away from the rain. He has a knack for leaving when it gets tough. He’s done it many times before, and no doubt will do the same in future.

Home Minister Shinde, abjectly partisan in his approach, tries to prevent Modi doing an aerial survey over the Char Dham Yatris in Uttarakhand. It was, of course, OK with him when Mr. Manmohan Singh and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi did it. Of course after they went in, the Army and the Air Force was pressed into service and large monies were promised towards disaster relief and rebuilding. Credit where credit is due.

The media kept asking who is responsible for the unpreparedness and the damage. It is still asking. Many people have died. The international press has largely ignored Uttarakhand. No other country has offered money, expertise or materials to help us. The world is tending more and more to ignore India just as it did in the 1980s.

Britain has indicated “high risk” visa restrictions for Indian visitors that will involve a deposit of Pounds 3,000/- or about Rs. 2.7 lakhs. A pilot project will be launched in November 2013. The Indian Government has not responded to this insult either.

Mr. Modi is staying away from Ayodhya for now much to the chagrin of the Government. He is sticking to his development script.  Mr. Nitish Kumar is sneering at him and sidling up to the Congress Party, which is making the right sounds but weighing its options. Mr. Kumar has chosen sides but he could well fall between stools come 2014. His is an opportunism without any great promise of opportunity.

Tomorrow is crying out for a new script. Mr. Modi believes he has one and most of his party and the RSS believe he does too and is backing him . The Congress Party is not sure if tomorrow deserves something new or something old.  They have been running a system of diarchy which is coming apart at the seams, and yet, if there is another UPA formed after the elections, the dual centres of power will certainly continue.

Except this time there may be a more pronounced three, or even four centres of power, namely the nominated PM, the Party President, the Party Vice President and possibly his sister/brother-in-law as well in some role found for them.

The regional parties could not care less about ideology but they would like a stab at the power either via a third or “federal” front or through the coalition that will be formed either by the BJP  or the Congress Party.

Mr. Modi may well get the BJP a larger tally because he has chosen to clearly speak his mind on various issues well in time for the electorate to consider. The population is looking for deliverance. The BJP itself is shedding baggage. The central satraps, most of the ones who have a future in the BJP have chosen sides. 

The ageing old guard does not have much scope to make trouble or at least benefit from it. The successful Chief Ministers from the BJP are willing to do their bit to help get elected at the centre. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh will prove crucial to the numbers.

The combination of aspiration on the part of the voter and clarity on the part of Chief Election Strategist of the BJP Mr. Modi, could well see the NDA back in power in South Block.

(1,097 words)

June 24^th, 2013

Gautam Mukherjee