Rahul Gandhi needs to go

The Congress rout in the states of Rajasthan, Delhi ,Madhya Pradesh and its inability to win in Chhattisgarh, despite having everything in its favour, can be dealt in two ways by the party. The easier and the most likely to be followed method is to blame it on the regional leaders, regional issues and the regional voters.  

The second way of looking at things, which is unlikely to happen, is to admit that the fault lies at the top, within the boundaries of Delhi Darbar from where the party functions and directs the state leaders.

Leaders like Charan Das Mahant, Ajit Jogi in Chhattisgarh and Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijay Singh in Madhya Pradesh, as was accepted from the loyal soldiers, have accepted that the party lost because of them.  Any insinuation to party vice president Rahul Gandhi being anyway involved in the defeat was nipped at the bud.

But is this the case? Shouldn't the accountability be fixed on Rahul, for the decimation that the Congress suffered in these states? If not him,  then who?

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?

Bihar Congress- now the only way is forward

Until now the Congress party in Bihar had failed to make any ‘visible’ impact on the streets of Bihar. As you roamed the city you will find smiling, bearded, tired, jovial, all kinds of faces of different leaders of all parties except Congress.

But now that has changed as Rahul Gandhi has finally found a place in the political space of Patna. Hoardings depicting him as the future leader of the country have come up at various points in the city.

Though Rahul Gandhi has still not taken up any ‘Bihar specific’ discovery of India tour yet his ‘supposed’ charismatic affect is being used by the party organization to motivate the party cadre and to galvanize supporters.

I find it very strange that India’s biggest political party, Congress, has a very negligible stake, share and presence in a politically active state like Bihar, which historically has been the birth place and play ground of national leaders. I can assure you that this is one place were politics comes before cricket.

Knock on the doors of any house and you are sure to find a political connection that goes either directly to the CM house or in most cases to the political corridors of Delhi. Poke anyone, be it a retired professor, a bank employee, an executive engineer or a street fruit vendor, and they will come out with political stories and development that are hard to imagine. Maybe once can doubt their truthfulness, but then they will say “it may be false now but who knows by the time you finish your dinner it will turn true”. Agreed.

A Delhi based Congress party functionary who was recently in Patna said that the ‘AC culture’ has made the senior leaders of Patna sensitive to sun and insensitive to political requirements. Now they find it hard to come out on street, stage protest, voice demands of the mass which ultimately has led to the downfall of the party presence in the eastern state.

Political vultures have not failed to take notice of this poor state of Congress in the state. Till recently leaders from other regional parties like RJD and LJP decided on which seat should be Congress granted concession so that its nominee may contest.

Also, the Congress been not able to find any local leader who can act as the face of the party. Every state has a leader who represents the party in his region. In Madhya Pradesh there are Digvijay singh, Kamal Nath, in Delhi it is Sheila Dixit, in Chhattisgarh it is Ajit Jogi and so on. Most of them were popular even before they became CM or MPs. But unfortunately the party has no such luxury in Bihar.

Party old timers understandably find this painful and blame the national leaders who in order to run their horses in Delhi mortgaged the party interest in the state. This demotivated the party workers, forcing them to switch loyalties. As a result Bihar Congress has been reduced to a political widow.

Some months back when the MNS goons were beating Bihari and UP migrant workers and making news all over the Country none of the Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi thought it was required to come out and say some words denouncing the act. I have never been able to comprehend the reason behind this insensitivity.

So much for a comprehensive Indian political dream.

The party cannot sink further anymore in Bihar. With nothing to lose but everything to gain, state leaders should begin its revival through small slow steps. First sit, then stand and then fight.

What the Congress needs in Bihar is to focus on long term gains, ignoring the short term losses. Giving itself 5 years and in the meantime strengthening the party cadre and increasing its reach among the mass and will turn true the seemingly impossible possibility of forming the government by its own.

Rahul Gandhi may be short of time but as he embarks on mission to make Congress a pan India party he should not forget that Bihar too figures on his political map.

Rahul Gandhi- On path to reform Congress

The former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair has described Rahul Gandhi as the most talented politician. He is right as Rahul during his short tenure as the Congress general secretary and member of Lok Sabha has proved himself as the most talented leader that represents the new breed of politicians who want to make India a Leader in the world.

He has emerged as a Reformist in Indian Politics, particularly the Congress and has gone to the extent of suggesting injecting young blood in the party and the government and even recommending his mother to “take rest” (retire ).

Rahul wants to learn about India and its people. He mingled with the tribals in Orissa ignoring security restrictions and later declared security cover can not prevent him from meeting the people. “It is for me to decide where to go and whom to meet, not the SPG”.

While on his ‘Discover India’ tour , Rahul Gandhi announced that it was time that The Congress as a political party starts enforcing democracy in its own organization. Rahul denounced the High Command culture too. 

He got a responsive Media appreciating his words of wisdom and political analysts called this an exercise which has been long due in the party. Some termed it as a statement that showed the level of political maturity he has attained and for some it was just a political statement; nothing less, nothing more.

Rahul visited the Bundelkhand region to meet the families of the farmers who committed suicide and Vidarbha to sympathies with the farmers’ families,toured drought-hit Kalahandi (a favorite spot of his grand mother,Ms Indira Gandhi and father,Rajiv Gandhi too) in Orissa and went to console the Dalit families whose relatives were killed in Aminanbad (Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh).His intervention in the Sarabjit Singh case yielded result and Singh’s execution was extended by General Musharraf for a month. Rahul like his father means Business.

The Gandhi scion has always been seen as someone who was born with the silver spoon ion his mouth. It was known that sooner rather than later he would be following in the footsteps of his family members who have graced the India political system since time innumerable.

Most of the observations that have been offered to the readers have a connotation that suggest since he is ‘Gandhi’ hence everything will come easily to him. This observation grew stronger with time as he went on to become an MP, a party general Secretary and now he heads both the youth political entity that represents the congress party the NSUI and the Youth Congress.

Though not many have looked into the other side of the implications of being born with the proverbial silver spoon that has always been associated with Mr. Gandhi. Since he is a Gandhi he is expected to win every elections seat that he campaigns for. Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh were seen as a wind that separated the wheat from the chaff. Political observers were already out with a verdict that since he was campaigning is Uttar Pradesh, Congress tally will improve. Then in Gujarat pundits went on to say that it was a battle that will decide the weight Rahul Gandhi has. It’s true that people turned out in large numbers to hear and see him but equally real is the fact that these mass congregations did not turn into votes. Critics are already out in the open saying that Rahul Gandhi has the charisma to attract people but not votes.

To be frank these and many similar observations were not mouthed by Rahul Gandhi himself but by the media and the political observers. It would be injustice to expect someone to pull congress out of a debacle that has inhabited it for years in states like UP and Gujarat just because he is the child of Rajiv Gandhi.

The baying of blood that has been associated with Rahul Gandhi has always been on the lines of the fact that he is a Gandhi. His Political acumen has not been tasted or seen yet. Still he has been termed as someone who owes his political ambitions to his family rather than his understanding of Indian political structure. His biggest handicap in his own words is his inexperience.

He knows that if Congress has to perform well in the long run the NSUI and Youth Congress will have to be nurtured with care and attention. His take on a democratic setup in the party should be commended. In his AICC meeting speech Rahul Gandhi called for organizational setup of NSUI and Youth Congress in such a manner in which meritocracy and accountability will prevail.

In his budget speech Rahul Gandhi called for linking implementation of governments programs to objectives spelled out under RTI. Similarly he called for more encouragement and strengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions which according to him are empowering the poor rural to be a part of the democratic structure. Similarly no can deny the success of NREGA which is his pet project, more-so considering the fact that although NREGA is the brainchild of the UPA government but it depends on state governments for its implementation.

Neither Rahul Gandhi nor Congress can refute the fact that right now it is a party of kith and kin. Madhya Pradesh has the father son duo of Arjun singh- Rahul Singh. Then there is Kamal Nath who recently launched his son Nakul. JyotirAditya Scindia had Madhav Rao Scinda to give political lessons. Rajasthan has Sachin Pilot, son of Rajesh Pilot. Recently Subhash Yadav, the former PCC chief of Madhya Pradesh managed to secure an assembly ticket for his son Arjun. Then we have Amitesh shukla son of SC Shukla. The list is long and the names are many.

Conversely no one can refuse the fact that if Sachin pilot and JyotirAditya Scindia didn’t had their family name still they would have earned the same respect that they command now because they have time and again proved they have the understanding that is required to be politically successful. Their parliamentary voters are happy with them for the work they have done in their constituency.

When Rajiv Gandhi came into power in 1984 he candidly expressed his dis-satisfaction with the internal structure and working of the Congress party. Rajiv rose not because he had any achievements that he could boast of at that time but it was her mother’s assassination that catapulted a reluctant youth to a reluctant leader of India’s largest political party. At that time Congress was known for having more than a fair number of power brokers. According to him this was one of the three problems that plagued Congress the other two being lack of Organizational elections and intra party discipline.

In the 1984 general elections one third of the sitting MPs were denied tickets. Most of them were known to be corrupt and unscrupulous. Younger people and college goers were encouraged to become a part of Sewa dal and the state level functionaries including Chief Ministers were dissuaded from flying to Delhi to pay their monthly respect which was a norm in the times of India Gandhi.

History will tell that after pursuing these new policy for a couple of years , Rajiv Gandhi had to abandon them as they were not quite appreciated by the senior strung leaders and that was evident in the way he lost a number of assembly elections. If these valuable policies were religiously followed for a longer period then they would have benefited the party in the long run but unfortunately were aborted for political considerations.

Now Rahul Gandhi is on the same path of reforming the Congress party. He has history to guide him through but then he also has the seniors who like in the past will also try to make his path easier the way they made his father’s journey enjoyable. His Father didn’t succeed and only time will tell whether Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Gandhi family will emerge triumph or not.

Ends

http://desicritics.org/2008/03/22/024010.php

India wins, so does Rahul

India won the inaugural 20-20 world cup, thereby giving me and many others like me the opportunity to witness things that we have never witnessed before.

Though i pride myself of having a strong heart yet when Joginder was hit for 6 of the second ball, i switched off the TV and went to the balcony of my 7th floor flat . Two minutes later i knew India had won. The sound of crackers, the ''heyyyyyyyyyyyyyy'sssssss' and the voice of Ravi Shastri which was coming from every corner was more than enough to awake even a deaf man lying in his grave.

It was Diwali that day; both literally and figuratively. Soon there were the group of lads and ladies who were taking a 'lap' of our society, perhaps trying to emulate their heroes. Outside on the roads the drunkards were doing what they do best; boozing and far away i heard some humming "Peeney walo ko piney ka bahana chahiye" . How true.

I don't want write about what, how and why Dhoni and his man achieved. Already much has been written about that and i am sure more will be written.

For me it was a memorable day. Memorable like my last school day, my school farewell day, my sister's marriage day and so many yet so less different memorable days which we all witness. The ones you remember whenever you go back in memory.

On the same day another of the youth face of young India, Rahul Gandhi also was in news but his political appointment was treated as secondary concern by the news channels. I never expected that someone or something could upstage any news about the Gandhi family, but the Indian cricket team did it. Hats off to Dhoni and company. They will never know what they have achieved along with the cup!

Rahul Gandhi the would be PM of India as called by his collegues ( It seems that these days the Politicians are better future predictor than Bejan Daruwalla) was appointed the General Secretary of Indian National Congress and was also given the helm of NSUI and Youth Congress. Talk about being born with a silver spoon in mouth!

The buzz in the corridors of power as it is often called is that many of the young Congress leaders are not too happy with Rahul being given so much in so less time and without much effort. But i can guarantee you that no one will raise a voice.

Not going into the merits of the appointment it's pertinent to talk about that is Rahul Gandhi more of 'Gandhi' than 'Rahu'l ? Of course! Even a child of 14 years will say that if Rahul was not born into the Gandhi dynasty than he wouldn't be where he is now. This is not a rocket science and everyone knows this including Rahul himself.

When Rajiv Gandhi entered into politics he was also of Rahul's age. He was a great leader, one of the few modern 'visionary' India had, a man who worked to better India's future. Lets just hope that Rahul proves himself like his father. He has an able team to assist him. Sachin Pilot, JyotirAditya Scindia are all young politicians and have a vision for future India.

After playing lots of tricks, "The Kite Runner" finally landed in my hand. A beautiful book, impressive in the beginning but it gradually loses the power to bind readers towards the end. It is about how human relationships go through many a turmoils; some emerge winner and some are not that fortunate.

Chetan's Bhagat 'One night @ the call center' was a damp squib for me, specially considering the way he wrote my one of the all time favorites '5.1 someone'. I guess either my expectations were too high or the success of the previous book got into the head of the author. The only thing which pushed me to complete the book was an expectancy that was based on my reading of 5.1 someone. I turned one page after another hoping for a better something, but the last page arrived and i was happy that it finally ended.