Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009 - 06:08 pm:

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They should know better than anyone that Ramayan requires Ram and Ravan, not just the vanar sena


In some hours the Raghu-kul of the Congress would have annointed a ruler for Maharashtra. For the third successive term and for the first term since 1990 a full majority government led by Congress will take oath soon in Mumbai.

The BJP, meanwhile, will rue and lament how their RamRaj was set afire by a "lanka-bhedi" and how they were laid low by the Thackeray vs Thackeray war. Obviously, they won't remember that there was no split in Sena in 2004 and yet they lost.

The problem is that they are yet to recognise that they lost the 2004 polls. They think they won the polls but lost power. Indeed they are yet to introspect why they lost 2004 and 2009 polls. Last time they met for chintan they successfully banned a book in Gujarat and expelled a leader. They thought they had vanquished the ghost of defeat.

What is missing is the honesty of purpose that is a necessary condition for leadership. Soon after the 2004 poll results Pramod Mahajan openly accepted defeat. We have seen many claimants for the victories in Karnataka or MP but nobody ready to take responsibility for defeat.

It is no use blaming MINUTES and Raj Thackeray for the defeat. Worse the party was forewarned. It could have chosen the new sena over the old one or produced a Mahajan to forge an alliance with both the Dadar Sena and the Bandra Sena. You can't fight a war without an objective and you can't hope to win the next one without introspection.

In October 2004, soon after the defeat of BJP-SS in the Maha polls Mahajan called me. "Brahman what is your theory" he asked. I said "every Ramayan requires a Ravan to be defeated and yours had no Ravan. So the people couldn't connect with your story." In true Mahajan style he agreed with a laugh and quipped "now like in films you have to produce both a Ram and paint a Ravan."

Truth be said both in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls the BJP had neither a Ram nor a Ravan. Without a leader and a villain they couldn't sell their story to the voters. Mind you the BJP is a party that found place in the political pantheon using the name of Ram. They should know better than anyone that Ramayan requires Ram and Ravan, not just the vanar sena.

The tragedy is that both the Shiv Sena and the BJP are treating democracy and elections as a once-in-five-years Ramleela that is followed by a coronation. In the intervening period like Khumbhakarna they go to sleep.

This prolonged absence from the battle field both in Delhi and in the states has led to a disconnect with the people. Their leaders have mistaken studio anchors for voters and channel debates for public engagement. In a sense it is not surprising that they are bereft of ideas and leadership.

This lament is not about the loss of the BJP. It is about the absence of the alternate voice in democracy. India can ill afford to let fractional forces from the fringe - be it the Naxals, the Goa bombers or parochial piranhas - to occupy the Opposition space. The absence of plurality threatens the very idea of India.

It is time the BJP went into vanvaas or at least a 14 month electoral vanvaas to find some ideas. In the meanwhile it would not be a bad idea for the smaller parties in and out of the UPA to come together. They too face a threat to their very existence. Ask DMK.

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Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009 - 06:00 pm:

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In the 80s India elected over 400 Congress MPs in a mandate widely tagged as one for change. There was virtually no opposition and Rajiv Gandhi could have taken India into the 21st Century. Instead the Congress invented an opposition. The 21st Century avataar - the UPA led by Congress - does even better. It invents crises where none existed. And both stem from the inability or disinclination or lethargic state to take a decision.

Consider some facts:
Way back in 2005 the Congress discussed reorganisation of states but did nothing. When it did decide it was sheer capitulation to coercion not logic. Even today we don't know where Congress stands on smaller states. Ditto with its position on the Justice Dinakaran episode. Can a judge not fit to sit in Supreme Court be good for Karnataka High Court?

Take any issue - whether it is Foreign Direct Investment, consolidation in banks, corruption in telecom, climate change, CTBT or the Doha round -- there is no Congress or UPA position. Even on the so-called "strategic partnership with US" there is no enunciation.

It is a more Hindu party than the BJP because it follows kut-neeti. Typically it believes in the many forms of truth and chooses one convenient for the occasion. So Telangana is justified but not Vidarbha. Till someone fasts or burns buses. Till then do nothing. Wait for something to blow up. And its silence and politicisation of the Afzal Guru clemency case could well become its Kandahar.

Sure Narasimha Rao did say "not taking a decision is a decision" but Rao was more a political scientist who experimented with scepticism in government. And look where it landed the Congress. Out of Raisina Hill.

The crux of decision making rests on conviction not convenience. The seventies model of the Congress stood for something. Version2 is more about what it can't be - communalism et al. The vacuous state has helped them cobble coalitions and come to power but convenience is not an ideology and hobbles it when ruling the state.

Sonia Gandhi has fought hard and long to restore the Congress to power. She must get her gallivanting leaders to put their heads together and author the convictions the New Congress led by Rahul will live by. If it delays this further, there will be no need to invent a crisis or an opposition. A real crisis will park it in the ranks of the opposition.

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Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009 - 05:36 pm:

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Vjavasi:

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Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009 - 03:37 pm:

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Vjavasi:

Togadiya modi ni debba kottadaniki 2007 lo caste politics kooda play chesadu gujarat lo congress to kalisi...

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Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009 - 03:36 pm:

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Kamal:

2000 around lo Praveen Togadia loose tongue kaaranam ani nammuta nenu .. after all one election victory .. he made it sound like he captured Everest .. antha arrogance undakoodadu .. mana roots ento gurtu pettukunte manchidi evarikaina ..

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Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009 - 03:30 pm:

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Vjavasi:

kaneesam temples meedha govt control lekunda choodatamu, media ni tame cheyyatam, electoral reforms, police and judicial reforms , illegal bangledeshi population ni venakki pampinchatam lanti panulanna chesi vundalsindhi...congress ni underestimate chesi debba tinnaru..politics lo avakasam vachinappudu choopinchali..lekapothe train jeevitha kalam late annatu avutundhi

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Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009 - 03:27 pm:

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Vjavasi:

Hindutva organisations should treat govt as govt not as their pocket

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Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009 - 03:26 pm:

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Kamal:

I disagree .. NDA(rather BJP) had no other choice .. RSS should understand what happened, and importantly why it happened so !

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Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009 - 03:21 pm:

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Kamal:

poorti idea ledu .. but heard he has several cases filed against him ..

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Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009 - 03:14 pm:

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Vjavasi:

nuvvu gujarat lo asaram bapu case gurunchi vinnava

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Vjavasi:

NDA hindutva issues lo fail avatamto gatti debba tagilindhi core RSS cadre ki..they feel cheated and they are not that motivated now...

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Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009 - 03:11 pm:

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Vjavasi:

naa opinion already akkada petta...

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Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009 - 03:06 pm:

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Kamal:

some people from Sangh side are also getting deviated from their duties or probably they do not have a correct knowledge of practical politics .. they are getting confused as to what "naara" to take up at the right time .. intha kante .. I do not want to go deep down ..

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