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Rahul is no great guns but provides the hope that India needs

By Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal. Dated: 12/16/2018 3:36:27 PM

Narendra Modi's unique managerial skills, money-power backing and use of social media played a crucial role in whitewashing the public memory of Gujarat carnage and his communal image with a fresh coat of 'development', propping him to power and building the sudden myth of his 'greatness' in 2014. It took Rahul Gandhi half the effort and minimal funds to turn-over his image of being a non-performer and a 'Pappu', a crude euphemism for dumbness, to beat Modi at his game. That the latter could do it in just one stroke of assembly elections to three Hindi-heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh shows that he not only has the ability to be in the prime ministerial race, it also gives him an evident edge.
Narendra Modi cashed in on the vacuum created by the corruption riddled politics of the Congress to create his own niche in the national politics. While he had the solid backing of the Hindu right-wing including those with militant ideology, the neo-bhakts found in him the messiah the country needed. He was projected as clean, uncorrupt, a great votary of economic growth and development and an amazing speaker. A nation that conveniently forgot the high bar set by the likes of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in refine-ness of oratory skills began imagining that the crudeness of Modi's one-liners, his constant personalized jibes at opposition including 'shehzada' and 'vidhwa' were next to Kalidasa's prose. Modi's rise to power among other things was an epitome of the degenerating quality of the national discourse, the language, the tone and tenor. Just as his other attributes were imagined to be great, his gift of the gab was as much a myth. Even as all the projected avtars of Modi stood deflated with his fattening expensive wardrobe and personalized suit, scams tumbling out of BJP's cupboards; and as cow vigilantism and divisive politics overtook the development mantra and his poor socio-economic policies plunged the country into a deeper economic crisis, while some neo-bhakts retracted, the die-hard ones continued to be apologetic, even though angry and smitten by fake and unfulfilled promises. The discourse of 'Modi-bhakti' was replaced with 'but there is no alternative to Modi' or the converted Modi-fans spoke about the need to oppose 'dynasty cult'. Rahul Gandhi is a dynast and unfortunately, in the last seven decades, the country and its political parties have been unable to shun their mesmerisation with dynasty politics. It is not a great thing in democracy but cannot be a disqualification either. The an important question to be asked is: whether dynasty politics is worse than the fascist power of a megalomaniac whose obsession with creating his personality cult is matched by his undemocratic whim of robbing the entire country's money in a midnight demonetization coup.
Indian elections are not presidential elections. People vote their representatives who in turn elect the prime minister but ever since 2014, personality cults have over-taken and the election talk veers down to who will be the prime minister. This militates against the electoral principles of the country. In a country where election choices have been reduced to a choice between lesser of the two evils, it is not only the two personalities that need to be compared but the two parties as well through a dispassionate scrutiny.
Congress which draws its legacy to Gandhi and Nehru, socialist and secular values has a huge baggage of encouraging crony capitalism, inducing corruption and having an uncanny inability to prevent communal riots, the glaring example of anti-Sikh 1984 pogrom, infact, nails top Congress leaders. The party bosses are arrogant and have scant regard for internal party democracy. The BJP is the political off-shoot of RSS, whose rank communalism and militant ideology need not be elaborated. The previous BJP reign under Atal Behari Vajpayee enhanced the acceptability of the ideology through its mix of subtle and brazen efforts to inject communal poison including the horrifying Gujarat pogrom of 2002. The present BJP government has taken it further and emboldened ruffians subscribing to the communal world-view with its silence, even brazen acts of honouring those accused of lynchings and rapes. Constitutional erosions and government policies including the dilution in the SC/ST Act double up for marginalizing minorities. The SC verdict on Rafale deal, which does not address key questions, notwithstanding, the BJP government has taken corruption to new heights. The jumla-baazi on black money falls flat in the face of bank frauds like Mehul Choksi's.
If Congress is obsessed with the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that treats the party like a fiefdom, disallowing any internal party democracy, BJP led by Amit Shah and Narendra Modi in the saddle as prime minister has demonstrated the worst forms of autocracy with every decision-making power resting in the hands of the prime minister's office. The old guards of BJP were shunned and sidelined in one stroke when Modi took over to enrich the latter's power quotient, something that pales into insignificance the Congress ways of bowing to the dynasty in comparison.
The nature of democracy in India does not promote personality cults. But if these are any criteria, they necessitate a comparison between Modi and Rahul Gandhi. Modi's claim to fame is that he is a self-made. Other than that, there is nothing impressive to his record. Rahul Gandhi is no Benjamin Franklin oozing with brilliance but he is neither the nincompoop the BJP has projected him to be. He is as average a politician as Modi is. His gaffes are only a fraction of what Modi is known to indulge in. His forgetful history, his inability to draw the distinction between Nalanda and Taxila, his belief that ancient India gave the world the concept of cosmetic surgery are among the long list of his faux pas that he manages to get away with, thanks to an obedient media and his round the clock propaganda machinery that has guzzled up unlimited funds. Modi is an out an out autocrat who has so far addressed the nation with his inane messages through 'Mann ki Baat' broadcasts for more than 50 times but never once has he evinced any interest in listening to the public and the opposition. He has started the dangerous discourse of branding every dissenter as 'anti-national'. Rahul, in comparison, is said to be a good listener. Having shown an ability to lead his incoherent pack of Congress leaders in the three states is not Rahul Gandhi's only feat. In the last one or two years, he has gradually evolved into a mature politician who is said to be in regular contact with his party workers at the ground level. He is down to earth, humble, simple and has refined manners that are endearing and appealing in a big way.
However, so far there is no indication that Rahul can lead the nation to prosperity, leave alone on the road to becoming the next super power, which Modi wants us to believe despite a population of 40 percent that remains hungry and under-nourished. There is no guarantee that Rahul has the ability to steer the country out of the present socio-economic distress or ably undo the damage that Modi's BJP has wrought on India. But there is a bigger chance that he may be able to halt the march towards a reversal of the basic core values of the Indian nation as enshrined in its constitution. Bringing back Modi to power, instead, will ensure the hastened pace of the country's march towards Hindutva-isation and fascist polity. It is not only worth it to give Rahul Gandhi a chance, it is the only hope today that India has, unless a better alternative emerges, which is probably waiting to happen with youth becoming more and more politically conscious and aware.