Political Diary
New Delhi, 17 August 2013
Battle Of Speeches
WILL CONGRESS TAKE
MODI BAIT?
By Poonam I Kaushish
Democracy is a conflict of interests masquerading as a
contest of principles. This truism was brutally laid bare as India
celebrated its 67th Independence Day Wednesday last. Instead of
being a Kodak moment when lofty speeches loaded with promises are made and the
country reverberates to soul-stirring desh
bhakti, this 15th August was different. A clash of personalities
camouflaged in a battle of speeches. With the devil taking the hindmost!
Undoubtedly the annual flag hoisting turned in to an
audacious bare-all slugfest between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Gujarat
Chief Minister Narender Modi. Positioning himself as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial
candidate without waiting for a formal announcement, Modi stepped up his
blistering attack on Manmohan Singh by drilling
49 holes in his “uninspiring” Independence Day speech, his 10th, as
the UPA completes its second term.
Modi not only taunted the Prime Minister for “uninspiring
leadership” and thrummed him on national security, economy, inflation, jobs for
youth, weak response to Pakistan’s
provocations, corruption, communal harmony et al, but also challenged him to an
American-style face-to-face debate on good governance and development in his
speech at a college in arid Kutch. “I want to ask you who is responsible for the way
the rupee is getting devalued, it is heading towards crisis.
‘Lal Quila is not
a place to challenge Pakistan
but a place from where the morale of Indian army can be raised. Pehle maama-bhaanje ke serial aate they, aab
saas, bahu aur damaad ke serials bhi aane lage hai…Mr PM you remembered
only one family. Wouldn't it have been befitting to remember freedom fighters
like Sardar Patel or Lal Bahadur Shastri? PM says he has miles to go. Which
rocket does he intend to take to cover these miles?” thundered Modi. Ending
cryptically, “The nation is restless for change”.
Importantly, no politician before Modi has ever chosen such
an occasion to launch a direct attack on any Prime Minister, preferring to
leave the audience to read between lines, as did Manmohan Singh from the Red
Fort. “There is no place for narrow and sectarian ideologies in a modern,
progressive and secular country. Such ideologies divide our society and weaken
democracy. We should prevent them from growing”, he said.
He then went on to list his achievements, NREGA, Food
Security, foreign policy but his monotonous monologue did not project a sense
of achievement but sounded like a busted record of broken promises and rueful
platitudes shadowed by the troubled awareness of things going apart, trying to
refine the bad news, sans a rainbow on the political-economic horizon.
Raising a moot point: Isn’t Independence Day about saluting
our freedom fighters interspersed with promises to take the country forward? Or
is at occasion for our netas to score
petty political points and garner brownie points with their vote banks?
Either which way, even as the Congress scoffs at Modi, the
fact is both leaders were playing to the gallery, notwithstanding the Grand
Dame’s chant that I Day speeches should be apolitical. In fact, every Prime
Minister and States’ Chief Ministers since Independence have made political speeches
with the eye on their respective electorate, specially, when elections are
round the corner.
For instance Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reiterated
his demand for “special status”, thereby telling the Congress
you-oblige-me-I-will-ally-with-you. His Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj
Chouhan read out a long list of welfare schemes and statistics of the State's
progress. Kashmir’s Omar Abdullah locked horns
with the BJP for fanning communal riots in Kishtwar.
Undeniably, Modi has enlivened political nautanki. Making full use of the ‘shock
and awe’ approach, the Hindutva poster boy laid bare the stark extremes in
political discourse. Manmohan Singh’s platitudes versus Modi’s purpose, soft vs
sanguine insipid vs inspiring and
boring vs bracing to catch the people's
attention and minds ahead of the elections 2014.
True the Modi persona is woven around dictatorial abrasiveness
bordering on arrogance. He refuses to be interviewed, declines all talk of his
role in 2002 and rebuffs suggestions for an apology, yet is extremely active on
social media.
Love him or hate him he is grabbing headlines and setting
the agenda of political discourse with the status-quoits risk-averse Congress overtly
trying hard to be offensive accusing Modi of being divisive but covertly
defensive. At best it reacts with name-calling, “Modi is a national
embarrassment…., a frog out of a well.” And at worst ignores him, refusing to
take him head on. Unfortunately in today’s Twitter-Face book urban India where
medium is the massage, silence goes against the Party.
Notably, the Gujarat Chief Minister has over the last 15
years of rule amply demonstrated that, in style and
content, he is not the conventional political challenger thereby successfully
converting elections into a clash of personalities. He countered Sonia’s maut ke saudagar aggression with counter
antagonism, “You tell me what should have been done to Sohrabuddin? (An alleged
Pakistani terrorist killed in a police encounter). Do I need to take Sonia’s
permission for this? Gujarat ke dharti pe maut ke saudagar nahin rahne
doonga!” in the 2007 election.
Last year, expecting defeat the Congress virtually gave Modi
a walk-over. Having burnt her fingers earlier, Sonia went through the routine
poll motions while Rahul refused to campaign there. Moreover, the Hindutva icon
intends capitalizing on the Grand Dame’s indecisiveness on who will be the
Party face in 2014, Modi vs a
question mark.
Alas, Sonia-Rahul’s Congress knows only to well that
Manmohan Singh has lost the plot. Neither is he primus inter pares nor has he delivered. What was needed was a
fresh interjection of a bracing set of reformist promises that would enable one
to look into the future with more confidence - not a tired assertion that
things will improve.
Worse, for reasons best known to him, Manmohan Singh today
has out-sourced governance to various GOMs (Group of Ministers) and Committees,
refusing to stick his neck out. Questionably, is he the same man who staked UPA
I for the Indo-US nuclear deal? Remember, his re-election was due to the fact
he staked India’s
Raj Gaddi for his inherent belief in
the deal. The reason why the aam aadmi
voted him back notwithstanding his waffling, maunvrat on critical issues and drabness.
Today, the same Prime Minister’s blandly mild, no-risk
demeanour has become an albatross round his neck. In fact, Manmohan Singh is
the raison d atre for the rise of
Modi. It is immaterial who wins.
Clearly,
Election 2014 is heading towards being more belligerent and boorish than those held
earlier. Wherein, the lines between a political opponent and a sworn enemy have
got blurred. Indeed, Modi has sounded
the bugle of rough political weather ahead. He has thrown the gauntlet: Power
is meant to deliver governance and efficiency in the system. Will Manmohan
Singh, Congress and Rahul rise to the challenge? ----- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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