Time to introspect,we disappointed Rahul Gandhi

The ‘hope’ of India, Rahul Gandhi did a superman act today as riding pillion on a bike he managed to sneak into Bhatta Parsaul village of Uttar Pradesh where an intense battle of sort happened between farmers and police personnel a couple of days back.

Defying the imposition of section 144 he sprung a surprise and walked into the village at 5 AM in the morning and it’s been more than 14 hours and still he is sitting on a ‘Dharna’ with the villagers who are demanding better compensation for their land that has been acquired by the government.

That he has little regard for law as he exhibited by ignoring section 144 is something that need not be talked about, that is a minor issue in this whole political game that’s being played in the rural area of Uttar Pradesh.

But what needs to be discussed is his Lack of foresightedness and traces of political immaturity because if he actually wanted to help the farmers then he has surely failed. Media OB vans and reporters with mikes are no measure of  the involvement of 'genuine' intention, if any. Though if he had come their for political and TV mileage, he would be now happy like a child in a candy store.

Can anyone from the Congress party come out and say that this sudden early morning move has nothing to do with the assembly elections that are stated to be held in Uttar Pradesh the next year?

Or was it a genuine concern for the farmers that prompted the Gandhi scion to pay a visit to Bhatta Parsaul?

Bhatta Parsaul was ’the’ news that the whole of India was watching for the last two days. We saw the pitched battle between the police personnel and the villagers, we saw the DM being shot and rushed to Akash hospital and we saw how the male members of the village had run away to escape the police.

We also had TV discussions and articles on how the farmer that are protesting in Bhatta were compensated in the early years of 2000 when their land was purchased and they had at that time very happily given away their land. And we also read how, now, after coming to know that the price being offered to the neighbouring villages where land was being acquired at a much higher amount, the natural ‘greed’ for a higher compensation forced the villagers of Bhatta Parsaulto start a fresh yet illegitimate demand when the actual time to transfer the land to the government arrived.

This all was till yesterday. Focus was on farmers and how to tackle this situation that has cropped up in every state where land has been acquired by the state government for infrastructural purpose, be it Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra or Bihar.

But as soon as the man in ‘Safed kurta’ arrived the focus was shifted on him. A farmer-government issue was suddenly transformed into a political playground.

And now as we all are privy to, the question is not what will  happen to the farmers or the police men who lost their lives but is has become a question of how and when will Rahul Gandhi and the eternally media  'friendly' Digvijay Singh will break their ‘dharna’.

The real issue has gone for a toss and by the time this all will end Bhatta will be just another village of rural Uttar Pradesh.

If this high voltage drama was not enough, the future ‘PM’ of India dropped a bombshell as he announced that after seeing what has happened in Bhatta Parsaul he “was ashamed of being an Indian”.

Depending on the perspective this statement of his can either be ignored and read as something that was said in the spur of the moment or if taken seriously it spells out many things about someone who is expected to lead the country to new heights in the near future. 

The feeling of being ashamed took a long time to materialize for the young Gandhi. He deliberately or unknowingly didn’t realize this feeling when he got many much more graver opportunities in the past.

A good time to give this ‘being ashamed’ statement was when Mumbai was attacked and the Congress Chief Minister and the Indian Home minister decided to cling on to the chair ignoring their professional incompetency.

When North Indians were being targeted by the goons of MNS right under the nose of the Congress CM , Rahul Gandhi should have voiced this feeling of being ashamed.

He should have felt this ‘ashamed’ tingling when the whole of India was expecting him to join the anti-corruption brigade at Jantar Mantar but which he chose to ignore.

Rahul Gandhi, the hopes of millions need to stand up and look around for he will see many reasons where he will feel ashamed of being Indian.

But then the games the politicians play is something that needs not be judged on the scale of righteousness and logical sense. They have the 'divine' liberty to choose which issues can hurt their consciousness and make them feel ashamed.

They may time and again fail ‘us’ but we don’t have that liberty to feel ashamed of their deeds; it’s a trait that is reserved for the class that call itself ‘the politicians’.

For all of us.