Amit Kushari (IAS, Retd.)
UPA 2 is now generally perceived as a sinking ship — whose days are numbered. In the last three years there have been quite a large number of allegations of corruption and nepotism against Congress and its allies. The record of governance also has been extremely unsatisfactory and the government took a series of decisions which adversely affected the common voters, the urban voters in particular. Because of unprecedented inflation and unpopular decisions by the UPA the voters looked at UPA with disillusionment, disgust and disdain. It appears that the Congress leaders were unable to look at these stark realities and were still brimming with self confidence.
Of late , however, it seems that the top leaders have started realising this and desperate damage control moves have been initiated. Rahul Gandhi’s sudden brief press conference on the controversial ordinance on tainted ‘netas’ is the latest of such moves. Many Congress men have said that Rahul is a moral crusader and he has reminded (belatedly) his party of the age old principles of the grand old Congress party. This move of Rahul Gandhi has left the Prime Minister and the entire cabinet red faced and now the ordinance is as good as dead. The opposition parties, however, say that Rahul’s move was just a face saver for the Congress because they realised that there was a huge outcry in the country against this ordinance and that the President of India was hesitant to sign on this. If the Honorable President of India had returned the ordinance, the UPA would have been shamed and embarrassed. The general perception in the country was that the ordinance was being brought to save Congress ally Lalu Prasad Yadav and Congress MP Rashid Masood who were convicted of corruption charges and were being sent to jail. Without this ordinance these MPs would lose their seats in Parliament adding to numerical woes of the UPA. The Law Minister, Kapil Sibal, was perhaps advocating the ordinance quite vocally because was he indebted to Lalu Yadav for his parliament seat? Lalu Yadav has now gone to jail and has lost his own seat. JDU and BJP are happy with this development. JDU has obvious reasons to be happy because with the decimation of RJD a large chunk of Muslim and Yadav voters of Bihar may switch their loyalties to JDU increasing their vote percentages. But does the BJP have real reasons to rejoice ? RJD might have been a political ally of the Congress but it was definitely keeping JDU’s probable voters away. Now that JDU and Congress together will fight against BJP in Bihar, RJD’s decimation will enhance the strength of JDU and Congress in Bihar and BJP may lose quite a few seats as a result. Lalu’s going to jail may harm the BJP ultimately which the BJP leaders are not realising now. The Congress leaders might have realised this belatedly and stopped helping the RJD chief by allowing the ordinance to die.
Whatever the opposition parties may say, there is perhaps no doubt that by his straight forward youthful comments Rahul has improved the image of the Congress party, however slight it may be. The Congress party has sunk so deep into the sea that Rahul may have to do at least ten more such stunts to bring the party above the sea level.
The Government has made political parties immune to RTI. Rahul Gandhi must come out in the open to oppose this government move. The Government has been harassing the general public by insisting on Adhaar cards for disbursement of Government subsidies. A vast majority of the population are without Adhaar cards even now and may not get the cards in the next one year because it is a time consuming process. People are taking leave from office queuing up for Adhaar cards for hours together. The Supreme court has directed the government that it should not insist on these cards and should allow the voters to acquire it voluntarily over a long period of time. The Government has not understood properly the advice and is still urging the Supreme court to reconsider its direction. Will Rahul Gandhi publicly announce that insistence on Adhaar card “is a total nonsense” ? If he does it, Congress will move upwards in public estimation. He must openly reprimand Ministers who make anti- people insensitive remarks. Recently the Law Minister said, “Why do you ask the Government on rising onion prices? Go and ask the traders.” Rahul Gandhi should be able to show the door to such Ministers. That would make him very popular. I wish Rahul Gandhi had the moral courage to stand up and say,” CBI should inquire into the suspicious land deals of my brother-in -law.” I wish he could pick up the phone and tell the Haryana Chief Minister, “Don’t harass Mr. Khemka.” If he could make similar stunning moves once a week, I am sure Narendra Modi would give up the fight and Rahul could be crowned the Prim Minister in 2014.
(The author is former financial Commissioner J&K Feedback to the author at 09748635185 or amitkus@hotmail.com)
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