The Good Boy with Incendiary
on the Rooftop
Congress
wins in Karnataka. Soon the media writes the obituary for Congress in the
forthcoming elections. The headlines screech from the top of the newspaper and
from the bottom of the TV channels: “Congress wins Karnataka, loses Delhi.” Everyone has turned a soothsayer to prophesy BJP’s
Karnataka ‘corrugence’ to be replicated
by Congress in the forthcoming state and general elections slated for the latter part of this
year. The opposition –especially the BJP-
is thumbing itsnose at Congress for winning a proxy victory in Karnataka.
What a paradox! The victor’s glee is subdued while the vanquished’s glee is
intense and unrestrained. BJP’s shrill orchestration for the hundredth time for
PMs resignation has silenced the sound of the victor’s crackers. The PM’s sound
of silence is increasingly deafening, for the BJP seems to hear PM’s mumchance
admission of his guilt in it.
Speculation
is rife about the possible winner in the forthcoming elections. Who will win is
a billion rupee question. I am reminded of an old Tamil anecdote. A father was
asked who among his four sons was the best. Father pointed to the rooftop and
said the boy who was trying to set fire to the roof was the best. The
bewildered look of the questioner prompted the father to reply that the other
three were far more heinous and diabolical compared to this boy on the rooftop.
We have the same dilemma in voting to power the party to govern us through the
next five years.
The
Congress has an impeccably honest PM who unfortunately can neither walk the
talk nor talk the walk. Though it has a few capable ministers who are well educated,
honest and intelligent it is handicapped by major scams that had fractured the
moral and ethical spine of the nation. Even though the final word has not been
pronounced either on Bansal’s complicity in his nephew’s underhand dealings or
on the 2G scam involving DMK ministers, the media and the opposition have
pronounced the Congress raj as scam raj claiming that it is public perception.
It is not rocket science to find out who sets the agenda for public perception.
What bodes more ill for the congress is it is hamstrung by policy
paralysis. Despite the best efforts of
the government to table Bills for the Parliament to pass that would improve the
nations’ economy and growth and food security, the Bills lie dormant on the
table. BJP is not interested in the Congress agenda; it would rather be the Dog
in the Manger begrudging the Congress any gain which it cannot have. Congress
suffers from lack of a charismatic leader who can articulate well in Hindi and
English. Except for Manish Tewari and some of the young guns like Scindia and
Pilot, there are no bilingual orators who
can connect with the masses.
BJP
has surfeit of volatile orators who lack sophistication in their attack on
their opponents. It is not interested
in any form of debate or discussion unless it is confined to the TV studios. A
continuous demand for the head of a minister(s) or the PM followed by a walk-out
rather than debating and bringing a No confidence motion is its way of striking
the ruling party with paralysis. Issues are not important, only personalities
matter. It matters little if the country
comes to a standstill and BJP’s strategy of ‘No resignation, no parliament’
will continue . It has in Sushma Swaraj, their star female PM contender, the
modern version of the Tamil classic –Ayiram Thalai Vangiya Aboorva Chintamani- the gem of a woman who sought a thousand
beheadings. For one Indian beheaded, she demands a hundred Pakistani heads. Her
vow to shave her head if Sonia became PM revealed her anti-diluvian
mindset approving the age old barbaric
tradition that demanded tonsure for a widow. She puts her foot into her mouth
more often than not. Others in the race for PM’s gaddi constantly wear their ‘morals’
on their sleeve. I shudder to see their perpetual frown and listen to their
homilies after their vacillation to remove Yedurappa in the mining gate scam
and later Gadkari. Modi the Narcissist boastfully
rants because he thinks he has the oratory to get away with choice abuses and making
humungous claims for minor achievements. Every so called ‘great speaker’ of the
BJP cannot become a Vajpayee who never uttered unparliamentary language in his
political career. The younger ones in the party simply follow the tone, tenor
and language of their mentors. BJP is a party with men and women of words and
no action.
Apart
from CPM which is still living in the 19th century world of Engel
and Marx and whose disastrous 15 year rule in Kolkatta revealed the bankruptcy
of their ideology, we have regional satraps who harbour ambitions of national
leadership with no knowledge of the complex world of which India is a
minuscularly small part. Aam Admi party,
the new player in the political arena, propped up by the Media, has no agenda
except to wallow in muck and mire to expose those who love doing murky deeds.
Who
among these four major parties supported by the regional satraps can be
identified as the good boy on the roof top?
