BJP NAMO OR CONGRESS RAGA – INDIA NOT GAGA

Shashidhar S. Kapur

Thursday, October 17, 2013

These days the political scenario is a bit confusing. Congress with its Sonia – Rahul duo looks like the RSS-having complete control with little or no responsibility ; BJP on the other hand seems like yesterday’s Congress’ personality centric , leader driven .Confusion is compounded when both behave in the same manner at times- for instance treating their elders shabbily-as if it is the new macho. Neither the head of the govt. nor the RSS show any inclination to fight the elections. Even worse is the fact that a supposedly socio-cultural organisation -RSS- controls politics and an avowedly political organisation – Congress – dominates the social agenda .A party which used to boast of science , Industries as temples of India now tom toms only rights and doles and the ones premised on revivalism swear by development.. . Perhaps having sewn their class’ caste bases they try and to poach and encroach upon the remaining chunks through symbolisms and tokenisms.

While the vote banks and money banks play the real political match others are mere extras in the political film -only to have vicarious thrills in reel world. Whereas the Upper & upper middle classes & castes have almost shut out others from the National politics the lower & Lower middle castes & classes have sealed the rest out of regional polity. The middle classes & castes which form the backbone of any healthy democracy have to reconcile only with crumbs in India.

Interestingly ,the two main national parties -CONG and BJP do not differ much on intellectual issues where opposing thoughts alone can lead to growth through a middle path; on the other hand , in social affairs where consensus leads to evolution , they are polarized. In other words , in aspects where they have to differ they are conjoint and in facets where they ought not to be disagreeable they counter .Thus there is a curious scenario after every election- intellectual matters which must change remain the same ( or at most reform) while continuity which is the lifeline of social affairs gets disrupted ( Instead of reform there is change) – either by appeasement or abetment , populism or parochialism.

It is well known that secrecy gives power and mystery provides control but for the voter secrecy of Congress High Command and mystery of RSS makes elections either a gamble or a lottery- or both. Sometimes he may get lucky but on most occasions he ends upon the losing side. Secrecy is understandable in army , international matters and mystery may be desirable in personal , spiritual affairs but for public service and social work transparency and account ability is a must. Nobody outside the coterie has a clear idea of how Congress High Command operates or the manner in which RSS cabal functions – that after nearly a century or more of their existence .There is no book or a detailed website describing the decision making process of Congress or the procedure of RSS. It is not the details of Individual decisions that are sought ( which all parties declined while blocking the RTI ) but the broad architecture of the process – so that the voter can evaluate their decisions against it. Absence of such transparency means that decisions are taken in an ad-hoc manner and stance arrived at in a knee jerk fashion. Consequently the nation moves in a stumbling and fumbling way. Of late , there have been some rumblings but they’ve mostly been half baked , simplistic AAP (Aam Aadmi party ) for Instance is born out of a double negative – to oppose both the Cong & BJP. As for their own pitch all they offer are some well meaning platitudes and simplistic ideas but no Philosophy , vision or Ideology ; mission model or culture. They are street smart but not smart ‘even the choice of their party’s name is cheeky. In the 65 yrs since Independence we’ve almost turned the Westminster model on its head-mostly by subverting it ; apparently ,in another 35 years we may stumble and fumble to the Indian mo del of democracy -in the 100th year of In dependence . That unfortunately is a mediocre approach – it would’ve been better if we would’ve designed our own model rather than being dragged by the circumstances. Of that there seems no chance thus as of now the Lok Sabha is more like a MahaPanchayat than a parliament.

This flip flop shows paucity of ideas and the voter keeps getting more of the same thing .While it is a fact that people get the government they deserve , it is also true to large extent that good leaders can give people the government they ought to get. Whatever the out come in 2013/14 for middle class caste voters it is a virtual choice ,a pseudo option- the country is likely to retain its circular concept of change and linear model of reform. Hence whether it is BJP’s NAMO ( Narendra Modi) or Congress’ RAGA( Rahul Gandhi) India will not be GAGA- at least not in the foreseeable future.