You too, Rahul?

by Najam Gilani

March 20, 2007

For politicians the biggest battle in electoral politics is the time of election. The occasion becomes far too important when that particular state is too big, especially in terms of (assembly) seats. Next month (once again) UP will become the Kurukshetra of Indian election and every single regional and national political parties will do their best to gain (and retain) as much seat as possible; prominent among them are Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, BJP, Congress and Jan Morcha in alliance with LJP, RLD and other like minded parties.

Since the battle is too big therefore all possible cards should be played at opportune time, and now that the time has come closer, the Congress has started doing which it does best, i.e. appeasement and emotional exploitation. They simply have mastery in this and one should not be surprised if in any other elections they file for its copyright.

Congress has always believed that they have a right to rule the Indian masses. Well it does happen if out of 60 odd years your party remains in power for almost 50 years. Congress party also believes that (Indira) Gandhi family has the divine right to rule the roost of the party and because of this nobody ever challenged the autocracy of Durga Indira and her darling son Sanjay; in fact the Congressis used to enjoy it, and since the majority of the party still constitutes of those old monks therefore the belief is still in continuation process; Believing this, they gave the supreme power of governance to the political novice late Rajiv Gandhi - a man who was more interested in flying flights and less in running the country. His wife is now the most powerful person in the party and in the country. Not to the public but to her our honorable Prime Minister is accountable. Though there is bitter power struggle going on in the party but as long as he remains in the good book of Madam Sonia there is no threat to his chair and Manmohan baba knows this very well; the intellectual economist has now gained that political acumen.

The other most important person according to Congrssis is Prince Rahul Gandhi. The party is grooming him for coronation and they all believe he can do wonders for the party just because he is part of that dynasty (May be he can. Indians voters still get attracted towards raja and rajwada and he is the Rajkumar of Congress party).

I have no doubt in my mind that this Rajkumar sooner or later will occupy the throne of India, and I used to think that he will give a new to direction to the country and party - country which is in search of a leader with a vision, party which is in search of a new direction and thinking to come over from its retarded feudal philosophy of appeasement and exploitation. I guess it will be greatly disappointing to know that this Rajkumar instead of becoming a force (of new thinking) who can push the political market of India, is himself getting pushed by the market forces and prevailing political philosophy (read strategy) of Congress party.

On the second day of his election campaign in Deoband (UP) keeping in mind the percentage of Muslim voters, he said "Had the Gandhi family been there in politics (at that time), Babri Masjid demolition would not have taken place,"

Simply an act of emotional exploitation in order to attract the substantial Muslim votes. The above statement has given enough of an issue to the BJP and they said "We are shocked to see how this young man and his party can stoop so low to please Muslims that they can go all out to insult sentiments of the Hindu community. His remarks show that his family is now all opposed to construction of a Ram temple at that site, which is highly condemnable"

Since BJP does not attract the Muslim votes therefore on this issue they will play with Hindu sentiments and will try to polarize Hindu votes. The billion dollar question is, will both of them will succeed in their approach? I think not, because irrespective of religious affiliations, Indian voters have come of age. They will vote in the name of nation (region) and development, not in the name of religion and religious issues.

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