Tweedledum and Tweedledee
The speculation is rife-‘Will he or won’t he’ –about Modi easing into the PM’s chair. This seems to be the topic discussed
almost daily in the Media, in official parties and in homes that depend on TV debates to shape their views, not to leave out the political and
business corridors in the country. Celebrity bloggers like Rajdeep
Sardesai deftly give sleight-of-hand advice to Rahul baby to take up a ‘seductive
big idea’ to woo the youth like his father did with his seductive big idea of computer technology.
Other celebrity columnists hired by the newspapers for their golden words of
wisdom give gratuitous advice in black and white to Modi who basking in his self glorified omniscience
has neither the time nor use for such wisdom. These celebrity writers do not
think it worth their words to waste them on Rahul baby. Better to suffer royal ignore than to get a
dimpled silent smile.
According to Anna Hazare, who advocates a
corruption free democracy that has no place for political parties ( and ideologies) but should function under the rule of a single centralized
elected PM or President, neither Modi nor Rahul is fit to be PM only because they represent political parties. There is also a clamour for a third front exorcising the presence of the two current major political players but without identifying who among the regional satraps is best
equipped to lead the country. The battle is also tilted towards
the fair sex as to who among the three female contenders is fit for the highest
job. The fledgling ‘aam-admi’ party in line with
its broom symbol has a single agenda of throwing up dirt all round and raising
the corruption stink around all politicians (except its own
members). Both the third front and the aam-admi party do not seem to visualize anything beyond their nose. Some
of the regional satraps are doing well within their states but they fight with each other, unable to solve inter-state issues affecting their respective
constituencies. How can they confront the macro-stage of national issues that
involve not only reconciling different states with conflicting interests, but also issues
of internal and external security, foreign policies , international relations
that call for a tight-rope walking among nations with diverse outlook and cultures? The mainstream
parties despite their ‘tu tu-main main’- तू तू में में (arguments and bickering), have
garnered enough experience in governance or (mis) governance to give us at
least a functioning anarchy. If they are thrown out and replaced by regional satraps,
we may end up with just anarchy. With economy in crisis and with the increasing
nexus between the Dragon and the Crescent Star, more than at any other period in post-independent India, we need some semblance
of stability and strength. The choice for the voter thus has to be between tweedledum and tweedledee and
we have no option to experiment with a third fiddler.
Hence we return to the same question who and who not is our next
PM? Sometime back I had written a blog: ‘The
Good Boy with Incendiary on the Rooftop ‘ where I had narrated a tamil story.
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.
The question remains for us- who among these major parties
supported by the regional satraps can be identified as the good boy on the roof
top? Do we need an aggressive, voluble, narcissistic autocrat or a babyish, silent
and self -effacing democrat whose youthful passivity is
a direct contrast to the older man’s dynamism? Can these elections throw up a
new face that combines the best of tweedledum and
tweedledee? Will God give the Indian electorate
an Indian Obama who will say and act the inspiring words: YES,WE CAN
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