By Sushil Kutty
Children taught how to cross a thoroughfare are told to stop, look right and then left, and then, when there’s no traffic coming from either right or left, stride forth across to the other side of the road. Of course, there are the ‘zebra crossings’, but even with those, better sense says still do the look right and look left routine.
The story gets repeated here because people are needlessly roiling over Rahul Gandhi’s utterances in London, where he is on a ‘let me tell you’ll some India stories’, which while opening the eyes of half of London has also made the other half see red, people angry that current-day India is being shown to all, warts and all, why?
Good question. Fact is, India’s Opposition parties and likeminded people have had enough of the Bharatiya Janata Party ruling India for 10 straight years. Even more, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule has been going on and on like a broken record on a rainy day and it’s humid as in Hell.
People, when they do damage to those who have never done them harm, should up and quit. Not wait for a push or a shove. Unwanted is not welcome. Why cannot the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi understand this simple fact of life? Winning ‘northeast’ does not mean the whole is in the pocket.
The northeast may still find BJP and Modi novel. But does that mean Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, too will. Karnataka definitely could do with a non-BJP government, especially the girls in hijab and the men, women and children for halal. It’s the ‘40 percenters’ and the good resistance to them.
‘Na Khaunga, Na KhaneDoonga’ is such a jaded saying that nobody believes in it anymore, especially when all-and-sundry knows that what the BJP says, the BJP never fulfills. Corruption is not money under the table, not keeping the word is also corruption by another name.
For instance, who does not remember Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promises to Hindutva, made to persuade them to vote BJP? Made and forgotten. There are plenty of such broken promises. Line them up and they will be a mile and a half long. The same sort of promises have now been made to the Pashmanda Muslims!
Once voted to power both the BJP and Modi forget the promises made. Why make the promise of generating 2 crore jobs in five years when it’s not going to be kept? And, then hide behind rhetoric. Why is the Prime Minister hell bent on making matters worse by sticking on to the chair?
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been standing at the door long enough. It is time his idea of India is given a shot at success. Like one newspaper said there’s a “very strong” resistance building up to Modi’s idea of India.
The people present at the interaction in Chatham House in London were convinced Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra had transformed the Indian people’s outlook about India inside India. The yatra covered the length of India, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, and therefore must have reached across the length and breadth of India.
“Building a new imagination is central to fighting against the BJP. Do not underestimate the resistance that is very strong and very powerful and it can do wonders,” said Rahul Gandhi, who is for all purposes the topmost leader of the Congress, which has a history of building up resistance to interlopers, and two-legged sidewinders.
Rahul Gandhi calling out the BJP’s ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was the highlight of Rahul Gandhi’s weeklong UK tour. The solution to India’s myriad problems “will come from inside, not outside” has never been spoken aloud before this tour.
Rahul Gandhi’s view that India’s democracy is global in its scope, and impact, is another idea never heard of or spoken before by any world leader. It’s a thought several steps ahead of ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam’. And when Rahul says “if democracy collapses in India, the democracy in the world will suffer a fatal blow” he’s bang right.
The centralisation of power; the accumulation of wealth in a few hands; the “huge concentration of power” in the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and wealth in the pockets of a “select group of industrialists” are all “fatal blows” to democracy, which must be resisted with all the might of the electorate.
India needs a regime change ASAP. And that means 2024. Enough with the experimentations. Experimenting with demonetization. With GST. With banging utensils to drive away viruses. Indians need a better hand, a winning hand. India needs aces not jackasses. It is about time. One more year and then a new beginning. (IPA Service)
