Opinion Say boo
Now Congress threatens to boycott PM programmes. Could opposition grow up, please?
Who’s afraid of a few boos? Look, it’s the Grand Old Party raising its hand. The Congress has declared that its chief ministers will boycott all programmes with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the podium, because it does not want to face “the ruckus” of jeering crowds that recently left Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan, and its ally Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, squirming in embarrassment. All three have huffed in indignation at crowds hooting them away, as Modi stood on the stage. They have seen in it a conspiracy by BJP cadres to cut them to size. Aren’t all the CMs so targeted heads of states expecting assembly elections?
Soren has, in an instance of supreme overreaction and outlandish reasoning, even called it the “rape of democracy”. First, stop the inappropriate analogies. Second, grow a thicker skin. Why should seasoned politicians be rattled by vocal criticism — whichever quarter it comes from? How is it sure that these are the mutterings of mischief-makers in Modi’s thrall, and not the genuine expression of anger at their deeply unpopular governments? Faced with the staggering charisma of Modi, whose electoral victory is still a glistening thing, the Congress has found few counters. By giving in to pettiness and enshrining The Big Sulk as prime strategy, who does it think it will win over to its side?
If the mandate of May 16 has any lesson for the Congress and its allies, it is that they have managed, spectacularly well, to alienate large swathes of the populace. The answer floating in the wind — and in the din of a disgruntled crowd — is that the Congress and its leaders need to swallow arrogance, and deal with the mess.
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