The Bugle,the Battle and the Ballot

                                     The Bugle, the Battle and the Ballot

Modi’s anointment is over. The challenger is ready with his bugle. No surprise his bugle sounded first at a gathering of ex-servicemen at Rewari where he praised the army and blamed the Centre for border troubles with Pakistan and China. He thundered “Army is not weak; government is weak”. Such oratory certainly boom- boomed with the listeners.

But once the bugle was stilled, critical questions cropped up. The army and the civilian government for the last 66 years have together acted in unison to protect the nation from the envious and India-obsessed neighbours on the Western side and the aggressive and fiercely combative dragon on the eastern side. Since 1947, barring the 1962 war, Indian army has done proud by the nation making the enemy retreat every time India was attacked. From 1947 to 2013, barring a five year rule by the BJP-NDA combine at the centre and a short interrugnum between 1977and 1980 when a hastily convened Janata party came to power, the country has been ruled by the Congress party. Thus for nearly 58 years, the army has functioned under a Congress government and therefore  it does not stand to reason to say that all these great victories happened despite a weak  government at the centre. I am afraid, leaving aside Modi’s selective memory and knowledge of India’s wars since 1947, such careless talk on the part of a PM –in- waiting creates divisiveness between the army and the civilian government. Unlike our western neighbors-(where the last five years have seen some semblance of a civilian government in power) and army controlled China, India has enjoyed a unique distinction of a powerful army working in tandem with a responsible civilian government.

Modi’s statement raises a still larger question about leadership. One does not have to be a management expert to define leadership. In a recent interview Kapil Dev observed that a true leader is one who credits his team in victory and takes the blame on himself in defeat. The army as a unit deserves credit for its efforts both to defend the country during wars and to provide relief to the people during peace time. At no time the army has claimed one-upmanship over the civilian government in whatever task it had been assigned. The army’s herculean effort in recent times to rescue victims of the Himalayan tsunami is an example of army’s commitment and dedication to the nation. Hence Modi’s attempts to win over the ex-servicemen by drawing a shadow line between armed forces and civilian government reflect poorly on his leadership qualities and they do not bode well for the nation.

It is most ironical that the PM-in-waiting shared the dais with former Army Chief General V K Singh, who is facing criminal defamation charges, and who has been termed as a "nuisance" by a Delhi court which said his presence created a "ruckus" in the court room. The reputation of the army which is known for discipline has been damaged by the Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja ‘s statement that  whenever General Singh came to the court, he brought  a crowd with him and created "ruckus" that hampered the court proceedings. Earlier the Supreme Court refused to entertain his petition seeking alteration of his date of birth from May 10, 1950 to May 10, 1951, forcing him to withdraw his plea and plan for life after his scheduled retirement on May 31 this year. What signals does Modi send to the armed forces?

The communal clashes in UP, the VHP’s recent though aborted  march towards Ayodhya, the aggressive defence of Modi by his acolytes and above all the no-holds barred abusive attack by Modi on the Congress triumvirate-PM,Sonia and Rahul reflect the intolerance of the rising Hindutva brigade that would destroy the idea of one country, one India. If divisive policy is going to be Modi mantra, the nation has to gear itself to counter it. It is difficult to stem the tide of hatred and intolerance that is spreading like wild fire. It is this that our western and eastern neighbours desire with great glee and malicious satisfaction.

The Congress will have to be a responsible party to bring back sanity to a polity that has been fed on negativism. The nation does not remember that the LPG(Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization) policy and the courageous dismantling of license-permit quota raj in the early 1990s catapulted India to a respectable status as an economic power in the world. After a decade and a half of good economic growth, there has been a slump- not because of the failure of economic policies, but because of the government’s inability to push through economic reforms, hamstrung by opposition on every policy. The opposition pinned down the government at various stages as a part of its strategy to bring about policy paralysis. The Global economy undergoing recession had also left its imprint on Indian economy. Who suffered in the bargain- the people of India and Indian economy!  Honestly one wonders if striking the note of negativism is the right route to capture power? Shakespeare’s words : The evil that men do lives after them;/The good is oft interred with their bones

have never been truer than what we see today. The scams of a few unworthy and corrupt persons in high office linger on while all the good done in the last two decades seems to be interred even before the demise of the present government. 

The Sangh Parivar wants it to be a straight fight against Gandhi Parivar. The best strategy is to make it a fight between the fascist Sangh parivar and a democratic parivar that does not project a Gandhi as the PM designate. Both Sonia and Rahul have  declared that they are not interested in the PM’s chair and they do not lust for power. The Congress will elect its leader after the elections. There are many young, intelligent and forward looking persons in the party. As for the debate with Modi, the Congress has a good number of well educated and experienced young ministers to debate issues with him and his Modi-ites. The proper use of social media and the use of polite and courteous language can win more hearts than countering the opposition in the same screechy tone.

It does not matter who wins the battle so long as the battle is won -not on lies but on truth. The two principles of Gandhi have to be kept in this battle for the ballot- (a) means should be as good as the end. Gandhi wrote  “They say, 'means are, after all, means'. I would say, 'means are, after all, everything'. As the means so the end...” and 

(b) Satyameva  Jayate.