Col J P Singh, Retd
The viewer and the voter is flashy and enthusiastic fun lover. Bollywood releases and coming elections are keenly awaited and enjoyed as bridal event with prolonged festivities. Since viewer is crazy, Dabang I & II become great hit. Crazy public made Arvind Kejriwal a great Dabang. The most exciting aspect of Delhi polls is the new star they have thrown up in Arvind kejriwal in his debut. Not only that he vanquished three times CM Sheila Dikshit in her own turf, matching one and only of its kind in Indian politics till now of ‘super star’ N T Rama Rao led Telgu Desam within nine months of formation. Kejriwal inducted dynamism in the electioneering. His quantum and sincerity of effort was amazing and what is more amazing is that he did it without a big budget. It is therefore structurally right to glorify entrants in films and politics. The voter used Delhi election as spring board to catapult Kejriwal into stardom over and above the stardom of Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi. His action heroes and villains are nothing different than any other political party. That keeps all the three actors in the limelight with fresh face Kejriwal more often in the headlines.
The current new release, ‘Frankly Speaking’ by Arnab Goswami, had a young politician on the shoot, stumbling many times before the tragic end and thus making the show a big hit. Facing Arnab Goswami was no less an adventure for Rahul Gandhi. His interview of 27 January 2014 was keenly listened world over. In the hindsight, it posed more questions than the answers. The anchor led the Star from an easy take off to a painful crash landing. The actor gave his best shots yet erred now and then. The big debut of the small screen ironically turned out to be baffling for the viewers and devastating for Rahul.
Viewing election 2014, Kejriwal seems to believe that all that is needed is a Jharoo to sweep the poll. Paradoxically media is making us believe that it is now Jharoo’s time and opportunity. During the campaign trail, Kejriwal had said, “I am not obsessed with becoming Chief Minister; my obsession infact is defeating both Congress and BJP”. This statement willy-nilly meant that he wanted to be Chief Minister because both BJP and Congress, if defeated, he was the only claimant to power. Whereas Rahul Gandhi is ambivalent about power. Infact all the three top Congress leaders, Sonia, Manmohan and Rahul show love-hate relationship with power. No wonder the meteoric rise of Narendra Modi in North India reflects frustration of Indian public with floundering Congress. It presides over rampant corruption and high inflation which gave India Modi and Kejriwal. Rahul seems to be shying away from power while his party wants him to assume power. Thus he makes us believe that it is the empowerment and empowerment of women & youth with fundamental shift that will sweep the polls in his favour. This is highly philosophical. Instead of empowering others he should love the power rather than love philosophy. Narenrda Modi and his party are relentlessly seeking power. Modi thinks that Gujarat model will catapult him into the hot seat which he loves immensely. He should know that unremitting love for power is also dangerous. Kejriwal, unlike his mentor Anna is hungry for power. Modi and Rahul are by now firmly planted in the public mind as prime ministerial candidates. Kejriwal has hardly made any impact to be regarded as prime ministerial candidate as of now. But he is still eyeing at South Block. Only flaw in his ambition is that as a General he has declared a war without raising a standing army. He is seeing victory at the tip of the tongue of just enrolled juniors. Entire novice Kejriwal Brigade has jumped into the battlefield under the leadership of a novice General.
As regards hard punches, having called NaMo ‘maut ka saudagar’ in Gujarat, addressing a public rally in Gulbarga, Sonia Gandhi targeted Modi of ‘sowing seeds of poison’ and blamed BJP for instigating violence. In reply, Modi hit her hard at Meerut by saying that Rahul Gandhi had declared in Rajasthan that after he was made Congress vice president, his mother Soniaji, secretly told him that ‘power was poison’. He took direct barbs at the duo by asking the crowd, “who was in power most and who has eaten and harboured poison the most and who is spreading more poison, if power is poison”. He blamed Congress for spreading communal disharmony and dividing states and society for vote bank politics by giving examples of botched up Andhra division. So far as Kejriwal is concerned, after being obliquely called anarchist by no less than the President, he is all out to discredit top political leaders. He has disclosed many names as corrupt. He swears to defame and defeat them in the coming election. Earlier he had charged Sushil Kumar Shinde for taking cut from SHOs. Taking cue form Rahul Gandhi’s TV interview, he is at the Congress throat by advocating SIT to investigate 1984 riots.
He is hell bent to discredit Congress. Kejriwal’s disillusionment and impatience with law is amazing. He shows that he is relentless in his fight against corruption and will put up candidates against 30 powerful politicians dubbed as corrupt.
Attacks and counter attacks are gaining momentum at the cost of basic issues such as high inflation, galloping prices of essential commodities, unemployment, women and outsider’s safety, delivery of govt services in police, judiciary & administration, clean drinking water, schooling, electricity and health services. Coming days electioneering is going to be murkier as the trends indicate making various showdowns interesting. Rahul’s acceptance of Congress leaders’ likely involvement in 1984 carnage poses more questions than it answers.
Long ago Congress started ceding political space to opposition. Its nadir came in 1977 despite best performance of 1972. Again in 1984, Indira Gandhi’s martyrdom injected lot of oxygen in its lungs. Despite that Congress has not gained political supremacy of the period between 1952 to 67. Scams, scandals, corruption and inefficiency humbled it earlier in state elections after which it was swept away by Anna and AAP storm. After crushing defeat in recent state elections, little hope persists of redeeming lost ground in 2014. Under the circumstances, chances of Rahul Gandhi as next Prime Minister are dim. BJP and any other front that may be in the making too are on sticky wickets.
Rahul and Modi will be at the helm in Indian politics for long but as shattered persons rather than an enthusiast leaders if they lose. The charisma of Gandhi family has diminished whereas prospects of BJP / AAP may be better because public has lost faith in Congress’ ability to handle political, economic and security affairs of the nation.
The truth is that Rahul cannot change public perception, Modi cannot change minority perception and Kejriwal can’t provide an alternative. Not only they but the entire nation will be a loser if all three amazing stars are clean bowled from the show.
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