The Ascent of NaMo/RagGa and the
Descent of Indian Polity
Even if NaMo and RaGa are like chalk and
cheese, their ascent to leadership of their respective parties has dented the
health of the Indian polity. The current run up to elections has seen an
upsurge of communal clashes that had been almost extinct for the last few
decades. While it is easy and modish
to bash the UPA government for its commissions and omissions, for all it has
done and for all it has not done, everyone has to accept and admire- even if grudgingly-
that till Modi was anointed as the PM designate by the BJP-RSS combine, there
had been hardy any communal clash of the Muzaffarnagar scale in any part of
India in the last nine years. Even the dastardly 26/11 evoked no retaliation
against the minorities. The Muzaffarnagar riots were the first one to surface after
a long interval and they continue to simmer even after a month with four more
deaths reported last week in communal violence. The Patna serial blast was a retaliation
for the UP riots resulting in five more deaths and leaving eighty three
injured.
This article is not an exploration of the whodunnit mystery for
that does not bring back to life those eclipsed lives in the Muzaffarnagar
riots and in the Patna serial blast.
That is the pastime of the political leaders to indulge in blame game and
follow it up with the political drama of proffering handkerchiefs to those in
tears. But for the common man- not the politically inclined aam-admi who revels
in tarring black all politicians other than his own cadre- it raises fears of
communal uprising and violence underlined by impotent anger and despair over
the mindlessness of fatal clashes between two communities that had been living
amicably for the last 66 years barring a few incidents. Everyone who claims to
be a politician has to necessarily express deep sadness and use the social media, electronic media and all
political platforms to issue strong condemnation of communal riots while overworking his/her lacrimal glands. But the
tears of all these politicians cannot wash away the pain and agony, the anger
and despair, the helplessness and defenselessness of the riot and blast
victims.
In the midst of all this tearjerker farce RaGa and Namo charge at
each other and then both join to accuse the ruling parties in Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar for negligence, incompetence and slackness and vice versa. The tragedy ends here for all these
politicians who expect the killings to lay the golden votes for them. How
cynical and tiring do they sound when their hearts bleed for the victims and
their hurt feelings seek restoration of
peace and unity! The art of today’s politicians is to suavely package communal
violence into votes. RaGa sees ISI ghosts where there are none while Namo sees
the hand of the Gandhis behind all violence. RaGa’s every faux pas strengthens
NaMo while Namo’s half truths and full lies are ammunition to the Congress.
NaMo looks strong like a Pehalwan(wrestler). He has a strong voice
to match his strong physique. He is a powerful speaker who does not bother
about civility, nicety, grace and truthfulness so long as he succeeds in making
his audience laugh at his mockery of Shehzada and his mother. He once told his
audience that SoGa had totted bills amounting to 1880 crores for her treatment
in US and when it was shown as absurdly false, he tweaked his attack on why the
government had not shared the information on the expenses. NaMo has a flair for
Nazi-like false propaganda and without compunction indulges in mocking at RaGa
and SoGa as his legitimate means to reach the PM’s chair. He flaunts his Gujarat
model of development that has proved good only for Gujarat urban towns without
realizing that he is spreading it too thin by talking about it as a model worth
replicating in the whole of India, known for its diversity. He talks about development and the moot question
is which politician worth his salt will not talk about development. But there
is nothing beyond laying on thick the word ‘development’ and he has hardly
anything specific to say about it. So he turns to his favourite pastime of mocking
at UPA, PM, RaGA and SoGa. There is nothing but a leonine roar when he mentions
Pakistan but he has no strategy to speak of as to how to deal with Pakistan and
he converts the roar to mocking laughter at the PM and the UPA for puss pussing.
Beyond that is his huge swipe at all his opponents with nothing
concrete emerging as to his understanding of national and international issues.
He has not said anything about the plight of Tamils in SriLanka, he is silent
on India’s relationship with its Asian neighbours, gives a wrong information
about China spending 20% of its GDP on education, has very little knowledge of
Indian history and is mum on World economics and Geo politics. Yet
his punches and his no-holds barred Modisms
do create good sound bytes for the electronic media. His speeches are like the
modern garba dance- high voltage energy dance, colourful with the two parts of Garba in place - the clapping portion and the other RAAS which
is a lot of fun.
In contrast is RaGa who makes headlines
whenever he speaks –all for the wrong reasons. Unlike NaMO, he neither has a strong physique
nor a strong voice. He cannot match NaMo’s oratory and whenever he speaks, he
sounds sentimental instead of sounding strong and in command. He harks to the
past and talks about Food Security Bill and RTI which are no doubt UPA’s solid
contribution to the people of India, but they are past issues and already
executed. It is like a broken gramophone record-very much like Modi talking
about Gujarat development model. RaGa hardly speaks of his vision for the
future of the nation except inane remarks about empowering every section of the
society. He reminisces about his family
to appeal to his audience’s emotion, but at the end it sounds like a nostalgic
tale full of melodrama and impotent anger signifying nothing. Unlike Modi’s
exaggerated gestures like finger wagging, Raga keeps rolling his sleeves almost
like Sisyphus who is compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to
watch it roll back down, and to repeat this action forever. If he continues
talking about what had been achieved and not about what to be achieved, he may like
Sisyphus end up as a representation of a life made meaningless because it
consists of bare repetition.
With the fledgling aam admi
party making a virtue of painting every politician black except those of its
cadre and seeking to rise to power by
mudslinging with no evidence to prove the muddiness of those it targets, we are
left with political vacuum. The regional parties are busy with their fiefdom
that they prefer to guard zealously though some like Jayalalitha ,Nitish Kumar,
Mulayam and Patnaik may be waiting to see if they can zoom up to the Delhi
corridors.
Ironically the
ascent of NaMo and RaGa has created a vacuum at the top. The yearning of the
youth, the aspirations of the middle class, the needs of the poor, the vaulting
ambitions of the traders and the entrepreneurship of business people have been
ignored by these two wannabe PMs as they
and their cadres are interested only in charging at each other like two
mad bulls. When two cats fight the wise monkey like the aam admi party makes
hay with slandermongering. Where does it leave the Indian polity? It is
currently in shambles. There is no hope of it rising phoenix-like from the
ashes.
We
need a change and that too a bold and courageous change to save the nation. As
a nation, we should appeal to persons of impeccable character, erudition,
dynamism and vision to stand for elections to be voted to power. We need
Rajmohan Gandhi, Ratan Tata, Narayanmurthy, Nandan Nilekeni, Chande Kocchar,
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Kumaramangalam Birla, Aruna Roy, Raghuram Rajan,Shobana
Bharatia,Indira Nooyi, Senior Professors and Scientists- to name just a few. India has many such worthy stalwarts known for
their personal integrity, sagacity and dynamism. They do not need political
patronage to win elections. Let the government be one of Independents who think,
act and work as team leaders ( as Nehru and Patel had shown how to sink
differences and forge unity). There is a distinct cry for change. It is in the
air. If we lose this opportunity to get the best team to govern, we shall be
doomed. This is an appeal to all those who read my blog to persuade people of
distinction to take on the mantle set up by Gandhi-Nehru- Patel(GNP of India’s
Freedom Movement) and help India regain its intellectual, moral and spiritual
status as an ideal state committed to
the well being of humanity.
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