Slipping
And Sliding
As
the polling for the general elections proceeds through this month and part of
the next, the voter’s mood is not to buy into the same old canards and arrogant
lies. Will the prevailing wind deliver that
much desired Congress Mukt Bharat
that Narendra Modi and the B JP/NDA is striving for?
We will know the contours of the expected NDA
win on May 16th , but Congress is apparently headed for a two-digit
tally. The stark best choice countrywide, per the prevailing buzz, is
definitely a Modi-led B JP. This is how the electorate, particularly the
youth, is calling it, inspired by Narendra Modi’s repeated calls for
development above all else, and concomitant job creation. And this strong
perceived response from the voters is wrecking all other assumptions and
allegations.
Lost for a way out of their decline, the
Congress, is ranting misinformation, and making last ditch, efforts to malign
the front-runners. Sonia Gandhi has called Narendra Modi a ‘Magician’ in an
unintended backhanded compliment. Jadugar,
the classic Magus, is always a game-changer, someone should have told the
under-educated Gandhis.
The none too intelligent Congress Vice
President and PM doubtful, Rahul Gandhi, is, on his part, objecting to the BJP projecting
Narendra Modi over all others. But then, he probably hasn’t noticed that strenuously
projecting RaGa likewise has simply not worked for the Congress!
The Congress chorus of sycophants meanwhile,
are trying their best to trash the hard to debunk Gujarat model, shout about
secularism, and polarize Muslim votes at the same time. They also moan about
how their good work, meaning the extensive welfare programmes, $ 16 billion of
its cost having been shoved into the new Government’s tenure by Chidambaram, is
not being appreciated by the public.
Congress maintains a muerta-like silence however on its massive corruption but still
wonders how the public is sceptical. It has, as
always, put up several prominent scam-tainted ‘winnables’ and those with
‘goonda’ antecedents. What is there to lose when relentless media exposure has
stripped the truth bare. It has exposed not only the corruption, but the fact
that Congress has the most accumulated blood on its hands.
This, from multiple communal,
ethnic and caste riots under its watch over six decades of rule more or less.
These have taken place, repeatedly, over the years, and in different parts of
the country including Gujarat, Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi and
so on. Some of the strife has allegedly been brought on by the aiding and abetting
of illegal Bangladeshi immigration. Nandan Nilekani’s Aadhar card initiative
with its biometrics and profiling has reportedly legitimised many such illegal aliens, some of
whom have proved to be terrorists with Pakistani connections.
A few have been
caught, mostly in the aftermath of sudden and unexpected bombings of innocents
in public places, and gamely confessed as much. Yet the Congress never misses an
opportunity to call the BJP communal and anti-national. This is repeated
constantly, Goebbels fashion, in direct contradiction of the damning facts that
blacken its own face. But today, even the Muslims are fed up of this clap-trap.
But Congress, undaunted, goes begging
for Muslim votes to the Shahi Imam of Delhi. And Ahmed B ukhari proceeds to
explicitly canvass for it. Then it proceeds to object to Baba Ramdev and Sri
Sri Ravishankar’s leaning towards the BJP.
The pot is therefore in no condition to
call the kettle black despite the use of a very selective logic. Meanwhile, the
Liberal-Left is in a state of apoplexy. They cannot believe what is happening
to their prognostications of utter failure for the BJP and its leader. Nobody,
except people like themselves, seems to believe them any more. They are in
shock and denial, slipping and sliding on a giant saffron banana peel. So they’ve turned
ugly, hurling crude insults, fanning fears, floating rumour and abetting
innuendo. But, as usual when it comes to Modi, probably the most vilified major
politician India has ever seen, it only seems to increase his popularity and
reach.
The
slew of foreign financial institutions, watching India keenly for the substantial investment opportunity they foresee,
are now looking at scenarios of an NDA in a majority on its own, or with a
minimal number of post-poll allies. This
outcome, and the decisive Government it will make possible, will not only stave
off a disastrous downgrade to junk investment status, but occasion a possible
upgrade.
The BJP Manifesto, released on the 7th
of April, laid out a direction replete with development and progress, backed by
Modi’s reputation and track record for swift implementation. And the stock market has already responded
with a 300 point plus rally. It is now already within striking distance of
23,000 on the Sensex. It is headed towards the Goldman Sachs call of 25,000, expected
by some by June 2014, with the Nifty also at 7500 or 7600 by then.
The
UPA and friends howl and scream at such forecasts as they clutch at contrary
straws in the wind. Meanwhile, the opinion polls, the betting fraternity giving
very good odds, and the foreign investment community, have been joined by celebrity
astrologers such as KN Rao, Bejan Daruwala
and KB Gopalakrishnan, all predicting a
handsome victory and government formation for the NDA.
Gopalakrishnan, confidently willing to be
counted after the results are declared, thinks the NDA is in for two
consecutive terms, given a swearing in at the auspicious muhurtam; and that India will see unprecedented prosperity over the
next decade.
(913
words)
April
10th, 2014
Gautam
Mukherjee
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