Connect
and Disconnect
Listening to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and her son
Rahul speaking of introspection and
learning from the AAP after the humiliating drubbing the Congress has just
received, one is reminded of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi’s old “Jeetenge ya Loosenge” speech. Vipassana, the Yoga of silence, has also acquired a bouquet afresh
thanks to AAP’s Kejriwal.
There was, in all of what the mother and
son said to the media, no taking of personal responsibility at all, for what
Prannoy Roy of NDTV repeatedly called a ‘Congress debacle’. This despite Rahul
Gandhi’s hand-picking of candidates and master-minding of strategy that led to this
latest rout.
That Rajiv Gandhi speech remembered came
shortly before he and his Party were shunted out from power having squandered
the biggest majority anyone had ever been given in Indian parliamentary history.
It was, of course at a scary variance with reality, underlined with a storm of
corruption over Bofors, that has only grown since then to seemingly epic
proportions.
This feeling of something in the ‘High
Command’s’ political shuffle gone obsolete, something wrong with this pyramidal
and imperial structure itself, that stifles, and is driving the Congress Party relentlessly
towards extinction, persists. Only now,
the process towards self-destruction is accelerating. It is in the DNA of the Congress Party, its
stubborn refusal to rise to the challenge despite the words, that is under
threat.
Vice President Rahul Gandhi and his mother,
Party President Sonia Gandhi, may not realize this, but the aam aadmi they professedly court has and
for some time now. They see the disconnect, and are not turned by any amount of
freebies, subsidies and grants. They take it but do not think it substitutes
for bad governance. And the same public won’t wink at the corruption any more
either. They have refused to vote for the Congress Party despite the
inducements.
There is, in this out-dated style, too much echo
of the ‘Rajas’ of yore addressing
their ‘Prajas’, with profoundly comic
whiffs of noblesse oblige.
Here is a ruling dynasty displaying with
oblivious aplomb, that it does not have a clue. And many spokespersons, each
chanting that state elections are not national elections. And, if these dedicated Congress ‘Prajas’ are abroad at all, it is because they are drawn from those
who eat and have eaten a great deal of Congress salt, and therefore cannot freely
speak their compromised minds.
The main lesson from the four state
Assembly Elections just concluded is the role of a direct connect between the
winners and the people. It is the old Vox
Populi Vox Dei axiom that the imperial Romans, Caesars and Senators all,
tried so hard to remember.
Did the AAP fluke this? There is every
chance that it did, and only time will tell if they can match action to words
over their years as the principal Opposition in Delhi.
The BJP, in terminal drift after years of
only holding power in some states and enjoying the role of a comfortable
Opposition in Delhi, was both unified and focused to the task of winning. It
was done, by the galvanising influence of Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra
Modi.
This happened quickly, and acted like a
tonic, ever since Modi was named to the role.
Mr. Modi however, had already got to work after becoming the BJP’s Chief
Election Strategist some couple of months before that, a job now given to Party
President Rajnath Singh who works very well with him.
Modi’s choice of a ‘clean’ Dr. Harsh
Vardhan in Delhi put an end to the factional fighting in the BJP. This,
combined and backed by some strenuous campaigning over the last month by most
BJP stalwarts, including several rallies addressed by NaMo himself, has allowed
it to just about scrape through! Delhi is a prestige election. And BJP has done
well to recapture power here after 15 long years.
The same NaMo leg- up has probably seen Dr
Raman Singh to his narrow win in Chattisgarh, much hampered by the embarrassing
Maoist massacre of Congress leaders in Bastar.
Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have done BJP
proud via the efforts of Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Ms. Vasundara Raje. Raje
has emphatically stated that the NaMo Effect or Wave has helped her a great
deal. At any rate the magnitude of her win is nothing short of spectacular. And
Mr. Chouhan has displayed his characteristic humility in victory, his most
commendable hat-trick of a win. Narendra Modi , on his part,certainly did not
neglect MP either.
The phenomenal rise of the AAP in just nine
months from scratch, launched from Anna Hazare’s activist platform, is a
happening probably bigger than the party itself. Sociologists and political theorists
will take time to analyse all its ingredients. Is this a new phenomenon in
Indian politics or a passing thing? At present, Mr Arvind Kejriwal and his instant band of
heroes are looking just as surprised if a little more delighted than the rest
of us.
Having said that, clearly the AAP has struck
near gold, tapping into a rich popular seam of yearning for honesty, probity
and responsiveness in governance largely absent in the political landscape.
Rahul Gandhi may have said something true enough, but his fat-cat party cannot
make the efforts and sacrifices of an AAP. At least an AAP on the stumps,
though it was already starting to fray at the edges.
It is true that the AAP has conducted an
idealistic and somewhat naïve campaign, more like a student campus election,
rather than one for the national capital. But this is a direct pitch that
masses of people found easy to understand and connect with. There were shades
of Obama’s first term campaign in it as well. It has resonated with both the
masses and a large slice of the classes too. The word ‘stunning’ is used
by commentator after commentator to describe the AAP’s success. But what comes
next? And can they live up to their own professed standards?
In one very important sense, the Modi Wave
nationally and the advent of the AAP onto the Delhi political scene does have
something in common. NaMo connects with the people and talks about matters that
both interest and concern them. He inspires and excites their aspirations. He
is a wonderful orator, a doer, and people are very tired of inertia and false
promises. He is honest, risen from humble beginnings, a proven quantity at governance,
a business and industry favourite, strong on governance and national security.
He is a patriot but very fond of technology. He thrives in adversity and has
shown incredible grit.
Arvind Kejriwal is also a good speaker, who
connected on corruption, electricity bills, price rise and so forth. He failed
at his old politics attempt to woo Muslims. Still, he and his inexperienced
cohorts have been swept into the Vidhan Sabha on the bristles of his trusty
broom symbol. Mint said these brooms can indeed fly, but we shall have to see.
The Lotus of the BJP is poised to bloom
nationally. This four-state win was indeed the semi-final, though Congress is
praying that there is a disconnect, and that the national elections will be
different.
(1,195
words)
December
8th, 2013
Gautam
Mukherjee
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