Now that the country has decided Modi will be our Prime Minister for another five-year term and last checked we still live in a democracy, it is time the country demands an opposition leader at the centre as soon as possible. Rahul Gandhi being the head of a major national party with a nationwide network should be the one by default, but he seems to be sulking these days, unable to fathom the heavy loss his party has faced. Hand on heart, he might have never expected his party to win, but to lose with such a huge margin was not expected and highly embarrassing.
It is possible there was sabotage within the Congress because it consists of people past their prime, with inflated egos and prone to blackmail. Rahul might be using the resignation card to make drastic changes within the party, which has eluded him so far. In that case he should take the country into confidence and announce his vision for the party and the action plan the party will be taking. Whatever might be the plan, he should sound his party workers and the citizens of the country that there is a need to revamp the party from scratch and expectations of near term victories should therefore be ruled out at least at the centre. In the process they could still pull off state elections wins.
A party with maximum ‘Corrupt Charlies’ cannot use slogans such as ‘Chowkidar Chor hai’ which might have sounded impressive at the drawing board level but backfired big time on the ground. If Rahul wants to take away Modi’s ‘Chowkidar’ initiative then he should himself go after the ‘corrupt charlies’ of his party and those that have used his party for corrupt practices in the past. People conceive that sacking or not giving tickets to the corrupt is just not punishment enough, instead he should dig up every corruption case of his party members and give it to the law enforcement agencies in full media glare. This step will also buy him insurance, so that these corrupt Charlies do not get a chance to regroup or split the party.
Nine years ago on October 20, 2010 to be exact, this writer in this publication conveyed a message to Goans to call politicians ‘humble servants’ instead of honorable leaders. Of course at that time the Congress was at the helm of affairs in Goa and even though corruption was at its peak most Goans allowed the corrupt to behave as one eyed kings in the land of the blind. Thanks to relentless writings, social media awareness and the India against Corruption movement, Goans started to get their sight back.
Today Goans are not content by infrastructure development anymore; again thanks to persistent writings and implementation of GST they have understood that the money spent is theirs and so no big deal. The BJP was quick to see the change in the mindset of the people and their aspirations and are at least seen as serving the citizens. The Congress unfortunately is yet to realise that the perception of the citizens towards politicians is changing rapidly and henceforth will elect only servants that are best suited to serve the constituency. No more place for Maharajas.
Not to say that Congress politicians do not serve the people, but most of the solutions are part of the problems created by the politicians or their hired minions. The citizens are not foolish anymore; they know the difference between sincere and phony solutions. To reinvent the party Rahul will have to weed out such old school of thought out of the equation. The more open and transparent he is, the more he will gain the trust of the people.
The BJP is adapting to the changing mindset of Indians much faster than the Congress, for example the new Finance Minister confirmed that she and her department appreciates all the advice they receive regarding the upcoming budget from mainstream media as well as social media and they make sure every advice is read and collated and analysed. The next generation politicians will have to be humble and take advice from the people, unlike the Congress who project themselves as the ‘know it all’ types.
Rahul has probably understood by now that some of his party workers might have double crossed the party and have worked for the competition. This has happened time and again not only at the grassroot level but also at the top. Many of the party’s motor-mouths have changed the equation of the elections just by opening their big mouths to embarrass the party and to suit the rivals, in time for the elections. Unfortunately these guys were treated with kid gloves and the pathetic results are there to see.
In such a gloom and doom scenario prevailing in India, Modi pulls of such a spectacular victory. Only goes to show that there is no credible opposition in place. If Rahul is up to it and he decides to clean his party with an iron hand the people will have to support him for the sake of democracy. Kejriwal of AAP has squandered his opportunity, in his quest to defeat Modi, he was seen rubbing shoulders with the corrupt of other parties, leaving so many of his supporters disillusioned, including this writer.
Rahul seems to have clean intentions but unfortunately does not know how to dismantle the corrupt legacy of his party. He will have to use the iron hand and disrupt everything the party stands for at the moment and don’t worry about the election results. Only then will something good come out which might even leave Modi and the BJP astonished. He deserves a chance only because the party has a nationwide reach. A nationwide cleanup will naturally clean the corrupt Charlies of Goa as part of collateral damage resulting into a genuine opposition instead of the fake one that exists at the moment. Voting for Rahul will mean India still can’t get over dynastic politics, but there is a solution to it.
(The author is a business consultant)
