Here I present my views on the recent turn of events. Lot has happened and lot has been interpreted.
The Political Ambitiousness :
Almost everyone seems to be grating sonia the status of a martyr of a war after she renounced the post of Prime Minister. Why? Is it because to renounce a responsibility or a high authority is some kind of a virtue and to have political ambitiousness a vice. Let Manmohan Singh then be another martyr, let him deny the PM ship and claim greatness, then let it be Pranab Mukharjee and then let there be an army of 545 great martyrs in the Parliament for the great principle of self lessness. Dare not tell me that people do not mean this when they praise Sonia, there is no other meaning of all this praise.
Being ambitious is one of the greatest virtues a human being is capable of. A virtue that has kept the world moving and pulled out the apes living in caves centuries ago, to an ultra advanced and organised world of today. A virtue that presupposes a number of other virtues. An ambition that originates out of some definite goals keeps the world moving. Political ambition is no different. Political ambition of Vajpayees and Manmohans is a welcome phenomena (as they have set goals), Political ambitions of Laoos and Mulayams are dangerous (as their ambitions are not born out of any goals) and political ambitiousness of a Sonia Gandhi is an absolute impossibility.
I would like to remind the readers that for 5 years since the death of late Rajiv Gandhi, the leaders of congress kept pursuading Sonia and she kept refusing to be part of active politics. Why the pursuading? Could they see a great leader in her face or in her second name? why the refusal? because she had no ambition to be the PM of the country !! then she entered the election campaign still keeping away from the active politics. then after another year she assumes the post of presidentship of congress and after another two years she contested her first general election.
What does this reluctance point to?? her great sacrificial character or a complete lack of political ambition and will and goals and vision. She was dragged into politics by the Congress leaders to save their skin.
Ask the current 545 MP’s to hold the post of the PM, 500 of them will refuse and the reason would be that they would find themselves unfit for the post of PM, just as I will not accept if Azim Premji was to offer me his business empire. But the irony in sonia’s case is that she is not able to confess that its due to her lack of conviction as she has been making the entire nation believe that she is in the race for last 5-6 years, not out of any will of her own - she is incapable of any political will - but because of sheer pressure from the Congress leaders.
This lack of will power and conviction is evident when she says that she heard her inner voice She is not the one who has counter attacked BJP as yet. Not because she wants to uphold her dignity (if she had heard her inner voice earlier she wouldn’t have asked for votes claiming that she is India’s bahu) but because she finds herself in a position where she feels she has no place to be in.
On one hand it is good for the nation that she has decided not to bow down to the pressure of the leaders of congress this time, its a pity that people turning emotional are ascribing her greatness when she herself feels no remorse, when this event is in no way of any significance to her. Her heart is not in politics. Her ambitions, according to her own statements, are as vague as forming a secular government. Ever since she became part of poilitcs this is the first time she has actually heard her inner voice. Politics was never her territory.
The All are Alike syndrome :
when talking of politicians, you hear almost everybody saying All are alike. ’’All are alike’’ amounts to saying that one has no opinion whether to choose Vajpayee as the PM or Mulayam Singh Yadav. ’’All are alike’’ amounts to saying that if one has to choose between Rabri Devi and Jaswant Singh to represent India in an international conference, he would decide by rolling a dice. ’’All are alike’’ is not a statement made by one who finds himself better than most in politics but by the one who has a hidden fear that he is no better than the the worst of them all. ’’All are alike’’ is a statement made not by the one who makes a mistake in understanding matters but by the one who consciously chooses not to understand anything.
The Law of Anti-Incumbency :
To me unemployment is an issue made to look more urgent than it actually is. Simply because of one’s inability and incompetence to secure his livelihood he becomes a liability to the government. No man who has not renounced self respect will beg before a government for employment. What were they doing in their formative years? No way they trying hard to turn into productive individuals but were only road side mawalis and by that virtue they have a claim over the government and the whole of the economy? These are the lot who suffers from another dangerous syndrome ’’What did the government do for us?’’. ’’What did the government do for us?’’ is a question asked by those whose spirits are dead. They are the ones who mindlessly vote against an incumbent government.
They vote for Jaylalitha when she is named in enormous scandals and vote against her when she punishes those going on strikes. These are the people who vote out Chandra Babu Naidu because some bum promises to give free power or rice at 1 kg a ruppee. These are the people who give birth to the law of anti-incumbency. These are the people who are a deficit to the country, yet almost everybody agrees that they are the ones who deserve most attention.
The equivalence of all votes :
The vote of a drunkard in the gutter has the same weightage as that of an IAS officer. No wonder the educated remain unmotivated to cast their vote. The vote of an individual who carefully examines on whom to vote for is easily nullified by a single vote purchased in exchange of a few drops of liquor.
The problems are many but the real problem is not identifying problems properly.