No politician today is voted to power owing to his or her merits. The rise of a politico is directly related to the fall of his or her antagonist from grace. Politicians as a tribe are a discredited lot, but people who have no choice tend to pick out the rag with the least stink from the garbage and instal it for use. Invariably, the incumbents and those with the most recent brush with power are the ones with maximum dirt on them and so are summarily rejected.
And given the public?s recall ability of only the latest, past filth not only gets an undeserving amnesty thanks to mass amnesia but is also rewarded. Hatred for those in power is also manifested in another form, that is the rise of greenhorns, novices and pretenders to the throne, but that is a price one pays for a democracy which relies more on ignorance and illusion than on informed judgement and conviction.
The country is now faced with one such situation with the only difference being the dirt coming now to the cleaners -read people- is imported stuff, but dirt all the same. The prospect of a foreigner … no, we will make it Italian Indian … riding the crest of a negative sentiment and getting installed as the PM of the country–India, that is … suddenly seems to loom large.
Thanks to the BJP?s failings, the people in all likelihood may opt for the only other national party in case they feel the need for a change and it may be of little consequence that the other party is led by a foreigner and a very mediocre one at that. Indeed the fact that the Congress is headed by a foreigner is bound to rankle among the voters but it is also possible that the non-performance of the incumbents may overwhelm such emotional considerations though one can?t say such feelings are totally misplaced.
Rather, it is really sad that a matter of such critical import to the nation?s very honour runs the risk of getting swept under the carpet by its own people, but more tragic is the fact that it is our home-made rulers who have all collectively invited this catastrophe upon the country. Well, probably India is only living up to its destiny, tested repeatedly in the labs of history, of inviting foreigners to lord over it owing to its own failings. Only that the latest intruder flew over the Khyber pass instead of plodding through it, with no hitch whatsoever, directly onto the seat of power. That is, if the worst happens.
The law of the land is yet to deliver the final denouement on the status of Sonia, pardon, Antonio Maino and lest I forget, Gandhi. Though her claim to power suffers from intrinsic moral infirmities, yet the last legal word is vital particularly in a political milieu where morals are in short supply. After that, it is the people and their fate, for they deserve their leaders. But the matter is not a settled issue as the Congressmen would like to believe. It may be so within the Congress, but Congress is not India as it used to be in the past.
The Congmen?s Sonia-mania is based on the premise that their Italian pied piper can lead them all into the corridors of power, which they think is their birthright. Buttressing their hopes is the fact that the party is now in power in more than a dozen states, something they attribute to Sonia?s charisma, leadership and above all, acceptability to the Indian voters. That is the proverbial proof of the pudding, or rather, pasta for them. But nothing can be farther from truth. But of course, truth is not the main weapon of the Congress under Maino Gandhi as it used to be with Mahathma Gandhi. Apologies for dragging the latter?s fair name into an odious comparison with someone with so many names, as we know now.
Sonia alias Antonio was the star campaigner for the Congress in 1998 whence it was summarily routed. Again, in 1999 April, when Jayalalithaa withdrew support to the BJP government and it fell short of a majority on the floor of the House by one secular vote, the Congress failed to make it to power only because Sonia was the stumbling block to opposition unity.
This despite her tall but premature claim to no less than the President of India, that she had the requisite numbers -a puerile attempt to fool the nation, coincidentally in April at that. Again in the 1999 elections, the party was mauled at the hustings as never before when she led the Congress from the front and as its Prime Ministerial candidate. And this happened after the Congress won three assembly elections the earlier year which clearly proves that the State elections were fought on wholly local issues and Sonia?s status was not a factor at all.
Similar was the case with the subsequent legislature elections in which the Congress won. Where is the question of her being given the credit for the installation of Cong governments in a dozen States? Her track record at the national level has been dismal, having failed miserably in one attempted back-door entry and two straight fights. Probably, the Congmen are hoping for a third-time lucky possibility and not a bad feat, after all, if it happens, considering that Ghazzni Mohammad made seventeen attempts before he could scent success. With probably identical fallout for the country that it appears, had been conceived and cursed by God as a Plunderers? Playground.
But then we have now got used to the Signora and it would suffice to say that she seemed more formidable when we knew nothing about her. Though she is yet to face a single major press conference, it does not need much deductive abilities to realise that she is plain mediocre stuff. Watching her, one only gets the feeling whether at all we have to go to such great lengths to stop her as she herself is likely to fall by the wayside in her run up to power owing to her own inabilities.
After all, there are far lesser weapons by which she could be felled and one could reserve the Brahmasthra ie the foreigner bogey for more potent prospective candidates like, say, Mush-Rough or even Osama if they choose to try their luck in secular, liberal India. But to let pass her foreign origins would be a big risk for our politicos. What if the people preferred their customary I-Day address in a different accent, just for a change?
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