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| WAVING GOODBYE? |
The latest oxymoron in my list is Family-Politics!
After being humbled by the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the heir apparent, Rahul Gandhi seemed more an apparition on 6/3/2012, accepting responsibility for the Congress’ poor show, and acknowledging the verdict as if he had a choice but to! Had Rahul G ‘delivered’ UP, at least he would have added some muscle to the vacuous claims of dynasty worshippers who had illusions of him donning the gaddi of the prime minister in future.
Rahul G’s campaign in UP was high on dramatics and low on earnestness. Whether it was his shrill campaign in Bhatta Parsaul, his resort to the so called padayatra politics or his stealthy visits to Dalit homes, they all symbolized an effort to reflect on the newscast of the day, with not an ounce of sincerity to attempt to cure the malaise. The man’s cynical exploitation of caste and communal identities that masquerades as empathy for the underprivileged, really didn’t work!
The glaring and often repeated visual of Rahul Gandhi tearing up the Samajwadi Party’s manifesto promises at a Lucknow rally, made for TRP and footage, but in the end it did count to null and void among the nine Assembly seats in Lucknow, the Congress won only one! Seemed all the histrionics was just for the television and media who followed him like the plague all through the campaign! It had become a sight for sore eyes!The "barsati mendak" or seasonal frog sister of his, could hardly prop him up, but add one more scene to the histrionics.Prince Robert and Pasta Mommy watched the decimation live!
Has this been a worst case of flawed understanding of reality on his part, or no more political alibis? Not even the precious Diggy Mama? Rahul G made no comment on the elections or results in the states of Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand where the Congress failed to make an impression. How could he?
Imagine in UP,Akhilesh Yadav's eternal confusion of whether to call Mulayam Singh G "pitaji" or "netaji"...He is always going to be singing "paapa kehte hain"...Hope this enduring passion for "family-politics" doesn't last forever.Sabko Badal daalo...oops did I say Badal? As in the father-son duo from Punjab which is so SAD!This entire family drama clutches power like designer handbags and even flouts it.Almost every party and state is running on bloodlines! Hope the heirs don't loom.
“FRACTURED” mandate?Or Apna Haath Jagannath! --Family Drama Continues......
so well composed ushy
ReplyDeleteHey Anshu
Deletethank you so very much
Do keep coming back!
Ushy
SOCRATES:'A group of donkeys lead by a lion can defeat a group of lions lead by a donkey....'That's leadership! #UPAlesson
Delete#Des2videsh / R Jain
Good orderly writeup. Nice one. It would have been appropriate had this included Karuna and his he(a)irs.
ReplyDeleteHe is the second person to follow the Gandhi family in pushing his family rule. later farook abdullah followed his father and now his son follows him.
Hi PV
DeleteSurely would include the Karuna Clan. and the Abdullah clan..it did skip my mind as I was trying to talk in context to the current elections which just concluded!
Thank you so much and would soon write one with all Fathers and sons!
Keep coming back
Regards
Ushy
Ushy not many can match you uncanny knack of composing an appropriate prose. Hope Rahul reads this and appreciates the punch that this article carries.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to more from you
Sincerely
Anil Kohli
Hi AK
DeleteThanks a lot for your feed back.
Always love your style and honest opinions!
Hope Rahul reads it!
Thanx again and do share tons
Lots of good wishes
Ushy
JaiShri, Shri-Shri, 2012, Maate Ushy Kushy, Twitter-waali :-) well written!
ReplyDeleteDear Pandeyji
DeleteJai shrikrishna!
Thank you for the feed back!
Lots of regards
Ushy
Family Drama continues all over. A farmer's son is to become a farmer. ... A trader's son, a trader. ... Dad politicians don't allow 2nd rank in parties and if some try to crop up, they are marginalized and in order to save their face, they rant We want Yuvraj. ... In a fear to lose trust of Godfather, 2nd rank leaders find it better to accept a new Godfather than being totally discarded.
ReplyDeleteKings were kings. They remain though the methods of transferring the power has changed.
Hey Daljeet
DeleteLong time no see!
Good to see your comments on my Blog.
True and well said...the father and son thingy!
Keep coming back and keep reading and sharing
Lots of good wishes
Ushy
I detest most pieces on rotten netas, both young and old. But the smashing Puns of the closing lines lifted your post miles in the air!
ReplyDeleteDear Umashankar
DeleteThank you very much.
Motivates me to go on and on...
Do keep coming back
Lots of regards
Ushy
hey!!
ReplyDeletethat's really an awesome blog.
So witty!! i wish Amul baby could read this! ;)
ReplyDeleteAdding to the Karuna and Abdullah clans, may I add the Thackarey clan as well? :P
Mataji,
ReplyDeleteApologies for the rhetoric :) .. but honestly a must read article written by u, and I may be generous to Rahul, not by giving discount to him, but by including all other chacha, bhatija, beta clan of political leadership to read this wonderful piece written by you, which does echo common sentiment among the people / aware citizen (actually minority in the voter list of India)
While honestly I am not against the family drama, so to say, as in the support ends at the entry level opportunity level and not the pappu and clan getting PMship and other candidature as their baap / maa ki jaagir types - i hate inherited position which this pappu gets, not the opportunity to work in politics, also I will not dish out example like - doctor ka beta doctor toh politician ka beta politician kyu nahi .... because comparison is wrong, while family heir becomes politician is not problem of we INDIANS, but its the candidature he gets that is the real problem. The kid of Doctor still has to pass MBBS and Lawyers kid still has to pass LLB/LLM .. only then they qualify to b doctor and lawyer respectively, unlike to b politician there is no such eligibility criteria to evaluate the capability of the heir, and hence we people hate candidature of political heir. If the pappu and his fraternity slogs their rear out like ordinary karyakarta as political leader, nottay problem. But since there is NO official evaluation possible in politics .. guess this game will continue .. until and unless the gimmicks of this clan is not thrown out the way Rahul's antics were thrown out, this fraternity of incapable and product of torn or ineffective contraceptive method will jump in the fray to rule us
A small digression to put the wonderful blog of yours in context. The family succession is a norm than exception in Bharath Culturally. Caste system is based on this premise - to preserve professionl continuity and skills for future generation? Though practiced differently, no one assumed a caste, based on birth but by profession (and naturally as time passed selfish humans ensure that professional skills and secrets gradually got bequeathed only to family members and hence we were born into a caste) To make the point clear, none of the saints or gods were Brahmins by birth.
ReplyDeleteNow why did I make the above point? Succession or dynastic rule should not really be an anathema since even European countries (royalty) and Thailand, Japan etc practice the same. Our concern should more be Ability and Eligibility rather than their lineage. Should we deny an exceptionally good administrator/leader from leading us just because his father/mother/mother-in-law was a leader. Does this become a disqualification? I guess it should not. But not as a right but earned by merit. Which is the primary issue today. Naveen Patnaik is giving a good account of himself, isnt he? A lot of gen-next young bloods are quite good too (even in Congress) - not naming or else it would end up in a Political debate. So Father-Son thingy as you call is quite fine provided Son deserves it and most importantly it is good for common man.
To be fair to RahulG, it was media hype and image building that he was falsely pushed into believing as true that led to his undoing. Priyanka Vadra added to the pathetic and vulgar display of "Beggar"liness reminding me of traffic signal where some lady appears at my car window parading 2-3 kids. Still baffling as to why Priyanka did that. With benefit of hindsight, it probably backfired because Voters also thought it appear too beggarly and how can you expect a beggar to lead you into prosperity? Similary what consumed Rahul G into ripping apart that manifesto of SP, voter ripped him apart.Add Vadra into this terrific mix and it was a sure recipe for disaster.
Another baffling thing was the role of so called mentors and think tank. Diggy raja and Khurshid did not good to the cause, firstly limiting RahulG to UP thereby he was limited to performance of that state alone. Not sure if that was good or bad, but definitely not good for someone touted as potential PM candidate. Again with benefit of hindsight, going by results it may have worked in his favour but nett result they killed Rahul's dream (Good for us - Cannot help maintain neutrality anymore)
Now, Ushy for a honest feedback on this blog - this doesn't meet up to your standards in terms of the incisive truth and humour Value. You have spoilt us and make us expect more out of you. Going by your past posts, I am sure this doesnt qualify to be amongst any of your other top quality blogs :-) it is not a bad one, but not the best one what I am trying to say. I believe I owe this truthful feedback to my dear friend and guide.
Great work anyway and very informative though! Keep it coming. Loads of love
I am sorry! My reply is bigger than your original blog..ROTFL!!!
ReplyDeleteyou hit where it hurts the most Ushy Mata , very well written and sincere blog :)
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