(Samaj Weekly)
There was a massive political rally in Kolkata yesterday with the arrival of Congress-Left-ISF to forge an alliance. The outcome of the Bengal result will be extremely important for the health of our democracy. The Left Front ruled Bengal for over 35 years and now TMC is in the lead for the last ten years. BJP is trying to breach that wall now in hope to build a momentum as ‘invincible’ for the next general elections. One fact is clear that the party has become expert in using the contradictions among its opponents and building up a counter narrative of no opposition to Narendra Modi.
Despite all the glamor that is built up around BJP and its invincibility, the party at the most got 37.6% popular votes in general elections and with NDA it went up to 45%. So, we can roughly say that 65% of voters of India did not vote for BJP during the elections. At many places the percentage of voters was far below. In various states the ruling party used all its muscle power to dislodge the government of the opposition parties. As elections in Assam, Bengal, Tamilnadu, kerala and Puducherry approaches, new alliances are coming up and things are looking pretty clear. It is a fact that the Sanghi propaganda media has unleashed fake news and deliberate diversionary tactics to help the ruling party in these elections.
Still, alliances in West Bengal, Assam, Tamilnadu and Kerala are a good signal for the Congress-left and other parties. Bengal is a complex case as left, Congress and Trinamul are at the loggerhead with each other, a situation very much like Uttar Pradesh where BSP, Samajwadi party and Congress are struggling against each other. While political leaders at the ground know better but it is also a reality that in politics there should be some space for negotiations. Unfortunately, in West Bengal, the acrimony between Congress, Trinamul and left is extremely disappointing. The entry of Indian Secular Front led by Abbas Siddiqui is being seen as a threat to Mamata Banerjee’s TMC but one can not say anything before the final outcome.
Similarly the joining of AIDUF and BPF ( Bodo People’s Front) joining Mahajot led by Congress is a good sign. Tamilnadu and Kerala already have the long term alliance so we can hope that these results will provide hope to India. It is good to see Rahul Gandhi active in both Kerala and Tamilnadu. Given the response, we can say, the Congress party needs to strengthen its organisational structure in all the state and build regional leaders. Congress desperately needs leaders like Amarinder Singh, Bhupesh Baghel, D K Shivkumar and others.
So when Congress leadership was in action as both Rahul and Priyanka are doing their best in southern India and Uttar Pradesh respectively, the ‘rebel’ leaders have started their campaign. Ghulam Nabi Azad praised Narendra Modi in his meeting in Jammu in which many other leaders participated. I am sure, the others who joined Azad in Jammu will regret what Modi said in Rajya Sabha and the response of Azad was well scripted. He knows well that BJP and the ruling party need a ‘liberal’ Muslim face particularly that in Jammu and Kashmir after they destroyed all the others who stood by India like the National Conference and PDP. Azad can fit in the scheme of things of the ruling party.
We all know well that any one who speaks against Sonia-Rahul Gandhi will get a huge press and a narrative would be built that the party is over. I have always maintained that in politics things change very fast. it depends on a narrative and perception. Ghulam Nabi Azad and others will not be able to provide any alternative as they enjoyed the luxuries of power. They are the symbol of what ails Congress, the unelected imposed on elected. These are the people who can’t wait and vacate the space for the new young. They are the one who are now ‘teaching’ the party that the leader should be in touch with ‘grassroot’. The only thing is that these people will be ‘magnified’ by the PR media and a narrative would be built around them about their ‘greatness’. This is the best way for the BJP and ruling party to avoid discussions on the major issues confronting our country. When individuals become issues and issues are side lined then the future of democracy is bleak.
This narrative built up is a long term strategy of the power elite. When Congress was intoxicated in power and Azad was part of that intoxication they did the same. That is why, I said Azad, Manish Tiwari are the product of Congress’s nepotistic culture and what kind of Muslim leadership the party wanted.
One cant say anything. Just listen to Azad speech in Parliament on his retiring day. He was ‘proud’ that he did not ever go to Pakistan. So, for being a proud Muslim we have to condemn Pakistan or suggest that India is heaven for Muslims. What can you say except hypocrisy. Why should Muslim in India have to deify their religion or Pakistan to prove they are more patriot. If a seasoned leader and a politician who happened to be the leader of his party in Rajya Sabha has to resort such cheap gimmicks then you can really agree with Ghazala Wahab’s personal memoirs of ‘Born a Muslim : Some truth about Islam in India’, says, what is it being a Muslim in India.
Propaganda media is being unleashed on people through dirty tricks, fake narrative and ‘absence’ of ‘opposition’. It is not the differences in opinion but rootless leaders are being treated as ‘great’ and ‘principled’. Such ambitious leaders can’t go beyond their own personal interests and for the first time in their life, many of these worthies are being ‘treated’ as ‘ great’ political leaders. In fact, most of them were responsible for Congress’s failure to deal with Anna’s political movement. They are the same people who were responsible for the downfall of UPA-II. So, it is time for the Congress party and all other parties where such dissidents are being promoted to handle these issues with care and focus on building organisation and its ideological clarity. Today’s Congress leadership is speaking against communalism in a much more stronger way than it was in UPA-I or II or during Narsimha Rao. We must give credit to Rahul Gandhi for the same.
It is time, all those who believe in democracy and are concerned about it, must demolish this ‘invincibility’ argument, focus on issues, ask question to power and yes forge an alliance on a long term programme as left front had in Bengal or UDF in Kerala or now DMK led alliance in Tamilnadu. Alliances with a common minimum programme on a long term basis is the only alternative to politics of one nation, one party, one market, one neta, one narrative.
The nation waits eagerly for the like minded parties dedicated to social justice, socialism and secularism to join hands and build a long term plan of action only then democracy will be protected and an alternative is provided which the countrymen are looking at for securing their future.
-Vidya Bhushan Rawat
March 1st, 2021
