We must have heard ... 'Work all day .... live on hay'.
We must have also heard that if someone works for 40 hours a week ...for long 40 years; on retirement he may get a substantial amount of money as pension and can live retirement days happily for next 20 years and more. But like a lot of things in the contemporary setting, such 40-40 plan may not work at all.
Hence it is always relevant to think out of box. One such 'out of box' reference for India's grand old can be the way the BJP fought back with the support of its mentor RSS after the 2009 debacle.
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| Sonia Gandhi - Amid 'parched' hope !! |
In 2009 after BJP got the shocking defeat and Dr Manmohan Singh could return to power; the RSS was convinced that the saffron party would not been caught in the mess it found if veteran L K Advani had not strayed from the core ethos of the BJP in 2005 and called Mohammed Ali Jinnah a 'secular' leader. Poor Advani did not have any special love for Jinnah in 2005 but after defeat in 2004, Advani grew desperate to capture power and emerge as the Prime Minister.
Of course, he had all the reasons to feel frustrated and most actions carried out coming out of sheer desperation generally prove counterproductive.
If the BJP suffered it in 2009; the Congress is sadly suffering the same malady in 2024 and it all started in 2014.
The move by Advani to make the BJP 'more acceptable' simply could not work. Advani had to resign as party chief and his friend and lieutenant Jaswant Singh could not deliver and hence was even 'expelled'. In other words, drastic churning started in his party. The BJP strategists and backroom players got into work quickly. The RSS too pulled up sleeves and pulled up those who wanted to change from the original ethos of the Sangh.
Once Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, M Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar were summoned to meet RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in his Delhi office at Jhandewallah and all four were asked to drive in a single car.
Such strong sense of disciple and commitment are not expected in Congress. At least for Rahul Gandhi -- there was no accountability even as he lost two consecutive polls 2014 and 2019. Nevertheless, to change the ground reality, the Congress needs to take up some mega corrective steps.
And now - less than three weeks left for the first round of voting; such corrective strategies may not be available.
In other words, accept the mandate of 2024 and start preparing full steam for 2029.
This is where Rahul Gandhi has blundered. His statement on 'match-fixing' never showed Rahul as a statesman or a Neta of substance. Rahul has not been sure about 'core' voters for his party and though he displayed 'sacred (Brahminical) thread', at times he inched so close to ultra-Left ideology that it came epitome of electoral losers by raising slogans or been seen with those who raise anti-India slogans.
His caste census demand ploy also could not go a long way in a polity where the BJP gave an OBC Narendra Modi as India's Prime Minister.
And whenever there was less influence of communists and even of the Naxal principles, Rahul and Congress believed 'the victim' card would fetch votes.
That did not help either and there are a plethora of reasons for the same.
Even the 'Loktantra Bachao' (Save Democracy) rally on March 31 at Delhi's Ramlila ground banked typically on we are the 'victims' mindset.
It gathered leaders from each party of the Opposition alliance but had no effective planning of a challenger and thus presented no narrative to counter the Modi government's policies.
What about any concrete 'alternative agenda' plan; -- even that was missing. So how do the Congress and other opposition parties go from here.
On the same day even as opposition tried to offer a robust resistance to Modi in an united shape; West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, considered a powerful provincial leader against Modi, in an election rally in her native state said: Communist Party of India (Marxists) and the Congress (of Rahul Gandhi) are in league with the BJP in her state'.
"Each vote you give to CPI-M will go to the BJP, each vote for Congress is casting your vote in favour of the BJP," she said, showing all that is not good enough in terms of opposition unity.
Let us presume Modi could be nervous and he can be defeated if opposition comes united for one-on-one contest. In seats where Congress is taking BJP in a straight contest, Modi may lose. One logic is Modi needs to give away 40-50 seats of 303 tally he had in 2019; the game is finished. However, others say things can still only be wishful thinking.
Let us look at three recent rallies by the Opposition I.N.D.I block. On March 3, there was one at Patna. On March 17, Congress organised the second one in collaboration with Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar's fledgling breakaway NCP. And in between Mamata had a show on March 10th. She announced candidates in 42 segments and paraded her nominees.
The snub on Congress and CPI-M was more than a mere snub or political message. It was insult.
Undecided how to go about, the Congress swallowed its self-pride. Notably, Mamata's party had missed Rahul's Mumbai rally as that marked the end of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. On March 31 in Delhi -- all came together and even as Mamata herself was not present. her party was represented by Derek O' Brien. In other words, as the largest party in the opposition bloc is Congress able to 'control' the show?
For the BJP and the RSS ---- they knew how things progressed even on Dec 6, 1992 when Babri Masjid was brought down. Many years later in 2019 and also on Jan 22, 2024, they knew they 'controlled' things when the Ram mandir was inaugurated.
In contrast, the Congress has 'exposed' itself and its associates of having only a single point agenda -- oust Narendra Modi. This is happening around a political protagonist who in public perception may brave against 23 years of incumbency. Rahul Gandhi's statement against EVM and that India's election is nothing more than IPL match fixing only raise a serious question on his ability to operate under the present constitutional norms and system.
On the other hand, Modi even if is up to 'deviate' from the hitherto norms is giving the impression that all his actions are within the ambit of Indian Constitution. Losers may only pen a book and give the title -- 'How to copycat our accidental way to glories of 2004'.
But accidents are accidents.
ends
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| March 31 : Blunder Rally |
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