Contrasting Contradictions and Convictions

Last Saturday, watching  Rahul Gandhi’s interview on Headlines today at 2100 hrs and thereafter the QA session of Narinder Modi in Aap Ki Adalat at 2200 hrs I was reminded of the  Husband’s Night, the once an year party hosted by the ladies for all members of the Officers Mess of an Air Force Stn in the Indian Air Force. The interview with RaGa was like the much hyped “Punch,” a trumped up concoction of various soft drinks and juices, at times lined with some whisky/rum/brandy/vodka, served as a welcome drink. Since ladies generally refrain from drinking alcohol, the untested concoction despite the hype and a magnanimous helping turns out to be an avoidable insipid cocktail.

Once in the party, one is free to have a drink of his choice, in abundant measure to one’s satisfaction. And that’s what happened at 2200 hrs when I started watching the Aap ki Adalat with NaMo.It  was like what I enjoy the most, a “single malt”, nice, crisp and heady served with abundance of ice to cool the frayed nerves and sinews after the ”Punch”.

RaGa, although he acquitted himself far better than what he did with Arnab, seems to be wedded to the eighth deadly sin, a soch, a vichar, as he refers to the Congress’s ideology for now and forever. In his not so illustrious political career he seems to have mastered the art of dealing in ambiguity by paying pious lip service to various “Rights” that he repeatedly alludes to in all his interactions. He was heavy on rhetoric and light on analysis, long on emotions and short on reason. That there was no mention about numerable issues that plague the nation like, eradication of corruption, population control, unemployment, poverty alleviation, lack of infrastructure, healthcare, education etc, reflected the well scripted and duly edited questions that were put forth..

On the other hand, Modi who possess a different level of national consciousness, than any congressman, was able to connect well and handle every question and retort from the Anchor and the public with the flourish of a magician. It is his grasp over the essentials, culled from the experience of Gujarat, that enable him to express himself with clear conciseness and lucidity. He reflects a creative mind with high octane passion for perfection.

Comparing the two would be nothing short of sacrilege. I therefore leave it to the judgment of millions who watched both the programmes. But one thing is certain, Congress will have many years, after 16 May, to mull over their follies and misdeeds,the most outstanding being the culture of subservience and sycophancy that compelled them to project an unworthy delinquent against a statesman.

Moral Decadence, Congress sinking faster than the Titanic

Celebration time for India as it’s for the first time that the country is voting with its head and conscience to elect a workable Govt. Major Upheaval in voting pattern, driven by ruffled sentiments, was seen on two earlier occasions. Once after the emergency in 1977 and later due to the sympathy wave generated by the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. Willy nilly the Congress was in the eye of the storm on both occasions. This time again the Congress is responsible for generating a tsunami of people’s anger due to its malfeasance, malgovernance, stupefying misinterpretation of reality, partisan delusion and apathy for the common man.  The self inflicted injury has generated the” Modi wave”, which has galvanized the youth and the educated to get over their stupor and use their right to vote for a workable Govt led by someone  who will be firm, live by his word and honest deeds. Development, accountability and all else that comes with good governance will follow.

  I really wonder where to start with the sorry state in which the Congress leaves the nation. Suffice to sum up that it was Opera bouffe, of the tainted UPA 2, led by the Congress steeped from head to toe in the self generated swirling currents of rampant corruption. Blatantly they unleashed unviable and unworkable Schemes like MNREGA, NREGA, JNNURM, and Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana etc that debilitated the nation by squandering billions and denuded the exchequer engendering Mass unemployment, abject poverty, lack of education, health care and basic infrastructure. Over 700 million people live an impoverished life in this country.  

 Unfortunately for the 1.3 billion Indians their Govt, as revealed by Sanjaya Baru, was led by a stooge, mercilessly driven by the Machiavellian manoeuvering of a wily lady chasing the chimera of a single point agenda to elevate the heir apparent to his rightful position. The consequences to by borne by hapless billions who placed their faith in this group of baboons, the Congress.

Despite the Herculean efforts made by Diggy and his acolytes to hide RaGa under the veneer of a Vice President of the party, his ineptness, naivety, incompetence and disconnect from reality are so vivid that even a blind can sense them from miles. So why is the entire Party treating him with a deference that borders on obsequiousness? What happened to the scores of intellectuals and highly experienced politicians like Shashi Tharoor, Mani Shankar Iyer, Jairam Ramesh and Abhishek M Singhvi? Why were they hesitant to call a spade a spade (a dud, an underachiever an underwhelming over pampered and ignorant brat) and allowed the anchorless ship drift towards obscurity.  All that one heard, 24/7, from the likes of Jayanti Natrajan, Renuka Choudhary, Oza (empowered group of women; the favourite tag line of RaGa) was “Rahul Jeeeeee” has great ideas, is very hardworking etc etc.

Writing is clear on the wall .There is no place, in the Congress, for leaders with a foresight, vision and integrity. They belong to a distant past. It is proposed to be a one man show irrespective whether the ship sails or sinks. Given the outstanding antecedents of the Shehzada, the Congress has already hit the depths of despair? Post elections it will achieve obscurity much faster than the Titanic did in 1912.

Congress’s Modi Obsession and Brainless Rhetoric.

  Two epoch making events are unfolding simultaneously on two different ends of the globe.  The days of unchallenged Pax Americana and its role as the self appointed monitor of the world are getting numbered after Putin’s occupation of Crimea. His move  without fear of any reprisal has not only become a nemesis for the American hubris but also elevated Putin to the level of a President who must be taken seriously because he does not mince his words nor does he shy away from taking an objective action that favours his country, no matter what the cost.

At the other end a third grade drama, a watershed event is unfolding in the most populous third world country; elections in India. At times it seems like Halloween, the way most political parties are playing the tricks or treat game with impunity, by blending credibility with ambiguity, in an attempt to woo the gullible voters.

In this entire milieu the most outstanding feature is the way Namo mania or Namophobia has struck the Congress. Modi as per them is the embodiment of all evil and Congress”the centre of all virtue.” The impatience displayed by Diggy at the mere mention of Namo revealed the Congress’s obsession with Modi. Interestingly, their silky tongues can no longer mask their desperation or their apoplectic rage in spewing uninterrupted vitriol against Modi; he's a brute, an insensitive megalomaniac, a Hitler who will break the country etc, all the familiar demonization for anyone who not only doesn't kiss Congress’s derriere but actually has a few suggestions on what the Congress can do with itself and its policies.

Congress is in a piquant situation, the more they know their rhetoric won’t work more desperate they get. The anti Modi arrows left in Congress’s quiver are getting smaller, rarer and more amusing all the time.  After failing to capitalize on the purported humiliation meted out by the BJP to a sulking Advani, a teary eyed Jaswant Singh or a saddened Sushma Swaraj they let loose their cohorts/poodles like Sharad Pawar, Mulayam, Lalu and Mayawati to denigrate and sneer at Modi. Cool as a cucumber, Modi tosses the rhetoric right back, reminding the Congress and its allies about the pathetic fig leaf of secularism used by them to cloak their two-faced nudity.

Congress’s glee at BJPs fatal error to choose Modi as the Prime ministerial candidate was their biggest mistake. Their vain attempt to conjure up a specter of apocalypse if Modi comes to power seems to be back firing. To their chagrin, Modi with his measured articulation and a deep sense of commitment absolutely delights the masses who had become depressingly accustomed to inaction, policy paralysis (inconsistent and incoherent policies), rampant corruption and nepotism.  One cannot help but deplore the Congress’s hemming-and-hawing about MNREGA, NREGA, RTE, and RTI etc etc.

 In the end, as the opinion polls indicate, Modi will prevail and the UPA will fret and fume and apply its hypocritical double standards while warning about threat to secularism.