Opinion Waiting for G2
After a rare day of good behaviour on Saturday,August 27,Parliament went back to its usual dysfunctional mode.
After a rare day of good behaviour on Saturday,August 27,Parliament went back to its usual dysfunctional mode. It is remarkable that having faced the most sustained display of distrust in themselves at Ramlila and around the country,the Parliamentarians come back to slap privilege notices on Om Puri and Kiran Bedi for what was a bit of street theatre. OK,it was not as entertaining as when MPs are rushing to the well,shouting each other down,or throwing things at each other,but if Parliamentarians want respect,they have to earn it,not presume it.
The Congress has not done much better. Last week,the BJP and the Congress came together to present a united front to Anna Hazare. The final result saved faces all around; Parliament did not concede more than it needed to and the Hazare campaign greeted the half victory as a triumph. Speaking Marathi was a potent weapon and that got the Congress directly to Anna behind the backs of Team Anna. The final denouement with Vilasrao Deshmukh reading out the PMs letter to Anna was as charming as it was unlikely. Apparently,Anna announced his decision to give up his fast only then to the surprise of his team.
Yet this week,the Congress has resumed the normal tedious politics against the BJP,be it Modi or Arun Shourie. Is there any need for this and are there not more urgent issues for Parliament to discussthe Land Acquisition Bill for example? The Congress also opened fire against their UPA partners by raising the issue of RTI in sports. Is this the least bit necessary or urgent,except to get at Sharad Pawar,Praful Patel and Farooq Abdullah who head some of the sports bodies? Of course,in no other country would Cabinet ministers be allowed to head these bodies but that is not the issue. The sense of priorities of the Congress has gone wonky. I thought there were a lot of Bills pending and time was running short.
It may be sheer panic. The Congress suffered a huge loss of credibility and the prospects for 2014 look bleak at this stage. The youth vote is with Anna and whoever has Annas ear. This was not how it was meant to be. We were supposed to be waiting for UP election victory and then confirmation of Rahul Gandhis leadership for 2014. Now the world looks very different. Andhra is lost thanks to Jagan Reddy,Maharashtra may give trouble if the NCP is provoked,West Bengal will see Mamata crowding Congress out come 2014,UP is less likely to be a walkover after the events of last fortnight.
The Congress needs to show that it recognises it made mistakes (not just errors) and someone should be made to take the responsibility for them. If it carries on as if nothing has happened,then voters will know that things will not improve. As it is,the economy is performing less well than the Budget forecast. Inflation remains stubbornly high in the face of official promises that it will come down six months hence. But such promises have been made every month for the last two years. We see that a million government jobs are unfilled. This at a time when unemployment is a big issue.
Change there has to be; the only question is when and who will initiate it? The news that Sonia Gandhi is coming back should quicken Congress heartbeats. But the information about her health remains frustratingly opaque. If she has to rest for twelve or even six months away from politics,the Congress is in trouble.
Assume she is perfectly fine and resumes her work middle of this month. That should lead to some strategic choices about the Party and the Cabinet which could signal that Congress intends to get back fighting fit. That means Rahul Gandhi will have to take up a real political office. He should do it while Sonia Gandhi can guide him about the subtleties of Indian politics. Sadly,no one else in the Congress can do this. If you centralise power in one hand,then you need that hand and none else.This is the tragedy of the Congress and of India.
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