The Good Boy with Incendiary on the rooftop

                         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 19^th 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?

Mother India has a Parliament

                 Mother India’s Parliament (with apologies to Old Macdonald…)

Mother India has a silent Parliament

E-I-E-I-O,
Her Parliament  has 540 members
E-I-E-I-O,
With a noise  here,
And a noise there,
Here a noise , there a noise

Everywhere a noise - noise

 Mother India has a silent parliament ,
 E-I-E-I-O.

Mother India has a silent parliament ,
 E-I-E-I-O.
Her parliament  has 39 parties
 E-I-E-I-O,
With a grunt  here,
And a grunt there,
Here a grunt, there a grunt,
Everywhere a grunt- grunt.
Mother India has a deafening Parliament
E-I-E-I-O.

Mother India has a silent parliament,
E-I-E-I-O,
Her parliament  has 2 houses
E-I-E-I-O,
With a quack-quack here,
And a quack-quack there,
Here a quack, there a quack,
Everywhere a quack-quack.

Mother India has a rumbustious parliament ,
E-I-E-I-O.

Mother India has a silent parliament ,
E-I-E-I-O,
Her parliament has two coalitions ,
E-I-E-I-O

One of the ruling party

The other of the opposition
Both with a neigh-neigh here,
And a neigh-neigh there,
Here a neigh, there a neigh,

Everywhere a neigh-neigh
Mother India has a paralyzed parliament,
E-I-E-I-O.

Mother India has a silent parliament,
E-I-E-I-O,
Her parliament  has shouting brigades
E-I-E-I-O,
With a hee-haw here,
And a hee-haw there,
Here a hee, there a hee,
Everywhere a hee-haw.
Mother India has a parliament

.Mother India has a quiescent Parliament
E-I-E-I-O.

Mother India has a silent parliament
E-I-E-I-O,
Her parliament is filled with opposition screams ,
E-I-E-I-O,
With a scam here,
And a scam there,
Here a scam, there a scam,
Everywhere a scam-scam.
Mother India has a scam-ful Parliament

E-I-E-I-O.

Mother India has a silent parliament

E-I-E-I-O
That hardly transacts any issue

E-I-E-I-O

With all important Bills for people’s welfare
Unheard,undiscussed, undebated and stalled,

Here a ruckus, there a ruckus

Everywhere a ruckus-ruckus

Mother India has an adjourning Parliament

E-I-E-I-O

 Mother India has a silent Parliament

E-I-E-I-O

That has a five year tenure

It gleefully passes ten bills at most

The Finance Bills and the Railway Bills year after year

Mother India has a silent Parliament

That has its own  the credo-All pay and No work 

Mother India has a comatose parliament

E-I-E-I-O

PAPPU + FEKU = RAHU+NAMO= RAMO

                                 PAPPU + FEKU = RAHU+NAMO= RAMO

Elections are a year away –maybe less than a year away. The media has now no need for Anna Hazares, Vinod Rais, Ajit Pawars, rapes and scamgates to scream and shout; it has enough  fare  on its table to  initiate studio debates as to who shall rule India. Even before Narender Modi’s phalanx of party managers could blitz out the opposition projecting him here, there and everywhere as the PM material, the media had put on its crystal gaze to identify the two potential PMs and given them the nicknames Namo and Rahu alias Feku and Pappu respectively. The captive clientele sitting before their decorative TV sets in their living rooms is given a daily dose of the two wannabe PMs, though one of the two keeps playing peek-a-boo while the other aggressively thunders: “Mirror, mirror on the wall; I am the fairest of them all”. The two national parties maintain a canny silence as they are not sure of a clear win in the absence of any positive signal as to who shall be their coalition partners.

In a country of 714 million voters as per the 2007 database, it is ironical that the country can throw up only two names,  whose nicknames do not inspire much confidence to anyone irrespective of his/her party affiliation. Feku means ‘a breezy boaster of narcisstic pomposity’ while Pappu is a derogatory Hindi word meaning ‘dumb kid’, ‘a simpleton full of innocence and naivety’. The media blares loudly and sensationally about Feku and Pappu, without ever wondering whether the billion plus Indians do not deserve a better leader than these two. The media is doing injustice to the Indian voter by telling them : “We have for you Feku and Pappu, take your pick.’

Pappu has no experience in governance or administration. He has been true to the cow and calf symbol of the Congress as he is given the mantle of Vice-president of the party of which his mother is the President. In this respect he is true to the ancient Indian tradition of the son worshipping his mother. His claim to the nation’s highest executive seat has no other rationale except that of the law of primogeniture. He has no oratorical skill comparable to Namo’s rasping utterances nor does he possess a resonant voice to match the stentorian thunder of his rival. His naïve understanding of the complexity of Indian politics is far removed from his grandmother’s astute and at times shrewd and diabolical handling of politicians of all hues. He has no understanding of the Chanakya Neeti that his grand mother often displayed-   “gratefulness to grateful,  violence to violent, and evilness to counter evil.” He is no leader nor has he any experience of being a team player. The Congress party is hurtling down to oblivion by foolishly shouting “Pappu pass ho gaya” when Pappu has not even taken his first examination as a skilful parliamentarian.

He is clean, untarnished, polite and seemingly considerate towards the poor, the marginalized and the minorities. His development agenda is rooted to inclusiveness. But he has not been able to implement any of his ideas even in his own constituency, leave aside his failure to garner votes for the Congress in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh that had gone to the polls in the last couple of years.

Namo has tasted power through governance. He is brash, autocratic and a go-getter. He is egotistical who does not fight shy of trumpeting his success in certain parts of Gujarat. In his bombast, he promises to convert his micro success in Gujarat into a macro success for the entire nation. Ramachandra Guha , the eminent historian says that Modi, like Mrs. Gandhi “ seeks to make his party, his government, his administration and his country an extension of his personality … and is like Sanjay Gandhi in his brash, bullying, hyper-masculine style.” He is a dictator and egregiously egoistic while his younger adversary is a democrat and self effacing to the point of not taking responsibility.

Namo’s development model has worked well in certain parts of Gujarat, but cannot be a model for the whole nation with its diverse polity. His model is anything but inclusive. But he is dynamic and strong and is the only man in his  cabinet.

We need neither Pappu nor Feku. We need neither Rahu nor Namo. India needs  Ramo- a bit of both.  Valmiki the composer of Ramayana gave Sri Ram the title ‘ Ramo Vigrahavan Dharmah’- i.e. Ram is the embodiment of dharma. Dharma has four important qualities- truth, compassion, purity, and sacrifice. As a son, student, husband, king, warrior, brother, friend, teacher and enemy Ram has been a model for humanity.

Before we exercise our rightful franchise let us discover a Ramo in our midst who shall not be guided by selfish interests, pleasures or emotions and who has the qualities of devotion, courage, valour and sacrifice to lead the country into Ram Rajya.