Prime-time crisis

If there are still any doubts that politics in the satellite television age lends itself to soap opera-isation, the current crisis in the...

If there are still any doubts that politics in the satellite television age lends itself to soap opera-isation, the current crisis in the century-old Congress party should finally put them to rest. For, if the sudden, and emphatically aggressive, show of dissent by P.A. Sangma, Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar seemed to come like a bolt from the blue, everything thereafter has proceeded along a curiously predictable script. A script that would have been deemed cliched if penned by a Bollywood hopeful but one that, given Indian polity8217;s unremembering tendency towards periodic reinvention, has kept an entire nation glued to the television screen for the latest dose of theatrics and symbolism.

It8217;s all so familiar. Congress watchers did not have to ponder for long over the unlikely Pawar-Anwar-Sangma axis, it was such a patently obvious take on the Amar, Akbar, Anthony theme. A frivolous parallel? Not quite. When Pawar was asked how the three Congress Working Commit-tee members came together, pat came the reply:quot;One is a Hindu, another a Christian and the third a Muslim.quot; Please note, not a word on the ideological and factional dynamics behind this unexpected assertion of Indian pride and loud reassertion of doubts about the security implications of having a foreign-born at 7 Race Course Road.

And even as old-timers adjusted to a turn-of-the-century time frame and murmured that a weekend is a long time in politics, the Grand Old Party showed just how long 24 hours can be. Indeed, after a surprisingly low-key build-up to Sonia Gandhi8217;s seven minutes with her CWC, ever since it8217;s been an emotional roller-coaster. Instead of steely disciplinary proceedings against the rebellious troika, especially after her decision to take to the streets to counter the BJP8217;s campaign against her foreign origin, Sonia too has settled for an old-fashioned pained sulk. And if her characteristically terse letter of resignation 8212; quot;I am Indian and I will remain Indian till my last breath. India is my motherland, dearer to me than my ownlifequot; 8212; seemed curiously familiar, well, that8217;s because it was. Remember Indira Gandhi8217;s famous words at Bhubaneshwar, a day before she was assassinated by her own bodyguards?

Theatrics, no doubt, are an integral part of election-mode India 8212; remember Atal Behari Vajpayee8217;s fast after Kalyan Singh8217;s dismissal 8212; but the Congress spin doctors orchestrating the current flurry of resignations and even more resignations have laid it on a bit too thick. This mass hysteria may stymie any further rebellion within the party from gathering momentum, it may deftly sidestep the thorny imperative to respond the banner of revolt raised by Pawar and co, it may buy Sonia8217;s thinktank precious time.

But while it keeps the country rivetted, this sycophantic burst of emotion cannot be a substitute for gritty clarifications about the Congress8217; prime ministerial aspirant. For better or for worse, Sonia Gandhi8217;s foreign birth is part of public debate; the party would do well to address it soberly. Excitable prime timeaudiences don8217;t always translate into votes.