June 2018

8 June 2018
ASIA
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
What Congress can learn from the mistakes of Rajiv Gandhi
There is no doubt that Rajiv Gandhi was a
modern looking young leader of the country yet
we must not miss out the fact that his party paid a
heavy price for the mistakes he committed. In
1989, he started his campaign from Ayodhya
promising Ram Rajya. The doors of the Babari
mosque were opened under his government curtsy
Arun Nehru. Rajiv Gandhi had the huge mandate
with him when he came to power immediately
in the aftermath the assassination of his
mother Indira Gandhi in October 1984. The mandate
was totally a communal one when an entire
community of Sikh was made to look as terrorists
and anti-national. In fact, the quick learner from
Rajiv’s this mandate was Sangh Parivar, which
replicated this in Gujarat in the year 2002. It is
easier to make the Muslims villain for every problem
in India and then come to power. Hindutva
learn it and continue to experiment with this at
various levels.
That was a huge mandate. Imagine 405 seats in
Loksabha which no party could ever achieve. All
the stalwarts of opposition got defeated that time.
Rajiv promised for a new India but caught napping
between Shahbano and Ayodhya. That mandate
somehow was completely wasted as arrogance
and flattering created a feeling that the government
was not interested in public good. Rajiv's
Mr Clean image was dented when he refused to
stand by his finance minister Vishwanath Pratap
Singh who had unleashed a campaign against the
corrupt industrial houses including the Reliance
Industries. The powerful corporations joined hand
and got VP removed from the cabinet. Rajiv had
no strength to do that so he carefully planned the
exit by sending VP to defence Ministry. There too
VP Singh did what he was doing. He unearthed a
whole lot of corruption in defence deals. Finally,
he was thrown away from the Congress Party.
We should nor forget the fact that when VP
Singh was expelled from the Congress Party, the
loudmouths and chamchas of the Congress party
and its leadership did everything to humiliate
him. K K Tiwari, Veer Bahadur Singh, Ratnakar
Pandey and many others like them actually created
all kinds of obstacles wherever V P went to
address public meetings or organizing rallies. But
as the Congress went on creating the hurdles, VP
Singh used all these opportunity to make his
point that the government has lot to hide and in
fact is totally corrupt. He did not say things that
way but the public had made up its mind that
Rajiv government was corrupt.
The 1989 elections actually happened in the
backdrop of all this.
That was the time when political parties would
say there is no leader in the opposition. It is not
united and so many things. Thankfully, that time,
it was VP Singh who focused more on building up
a grassroots mobilsation against the corrupt government,
build up narratives beautifully. That
apart, VP was able to bring diverse opposition
parties at one platform that gave Congress a one
to one fight in most of the constituencies. The
result was the fall of mighty Rajiv Gandhi. V P
Singh became prime minister but Rajiv could
never adjust to this new reality of his time that his
one-time
finance
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
social and human rights activist
minister
was the
leader of
the country.
The National Front Left Front alliance was at
Center and the BJP had supported it. Obviously,
that time Congress was the biggest threat to
democracy and need was to bring all the parties
together. After some initial hick ups, the government
started working and the first major
announcement was Dr Ambedkar centenary celebrations
and announcement of Bharat Ratna to
him. That apart on August 7th, V P Singh government
announced the acceptance of Mandal
Commission Recommendation for 27% reservation
for OBCs in the central government jobs.
The Mandal announcement was met with
vociferous protest by all. This was the time when
India’s ‘secular’ elite too got totally exposed. The
hub of the protest became Delhi University and
various other cities in the north. RSS got worried
and Advani amounted Somnath to Ayodhya yatra
to ‘unite’ Hindus but
in fact deviate from
the real issue of the
reservation for
OBCs.
BJP withdrew its
support when Lalu
Yadav arrested Lal
Krishna Advani
Samastipur, Bihar
and did not allow him to continue his yatra. The
Congress immediately supported the break away
faction of Janta Dal under Chandrashekhar and
after some time withdrew support from him. Rest
is history. Congress could never recover the jolt
VP Singh gave to it and that is the reason why
despite all his effort VP Singh was not respected
by the high command of Congress Party despite
his overtures for reconciliation later.
Today, when the Congress is down and
attempting to unite the opposition, it needs to
learn a few mistakes that Rajiv Gandhi did.
Congresses attempt to play soft Hindutva card
will not work now. Congress tried in Gujarat as
well as in Karnataka. The party does not have
any credible faces from other communities in
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. If Rajiv Gandhi had
saved V P Singh government that time and supported
his Mandal initiative, Congress would not
have gone into virtual oblivion despite being in
government for long. The lack of faith in
Congress among the OBCs, Muslims and Dalits
have long reasons and can not be just adjusted
through a few seats here or there. Congress need
to shed its brahmanical coat and become a party
of India’s diverse people from North to South. In
Karnataka, it tried to lure Lingayat ignoring
Dalits and Muslims and the result is that it lost
their trust. Neither Vokalingas nor Lingayat
voted for it but at the same point of time, the
Dalits and Muslims too did not vote for it.
Congress want to grab soft liberal Hindu space
and therefore it is unable to take a strong position
like telling the people that it stand for modern values,
respect for constitution and celebrate diversity.
It does not talk about representation of all sections
in our nation building.
It is time it accepts the past mistakes and move
ahead. We don’t live in past. It is great that Rahul
Gandhi has learnt all this and has been trying to
make the party diverse. It is also heartwarming to
see him apologizing for the some of the mistakes
and not responding in hate for hate agenda of the
Hindutva trolls.
It would be better for the Congress to work on
a long term agenda which include bringing different
secular parties together as well as also engage
with civil society organizations and social movements.
It is equally important for the Congress to
dismantle the brahmanical hegemony inside the
party and open its door for India’s diverse identities
who have been denied space and representation
at various level in political parties.
Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social and
human rights activist. He blogs at
www.manukhsi.blogspot.com twitter @freetohumanity
Email: vbrawat@gmail.com
Khajuraho remains
India’s hottest
Bhopal, Madhya
Pradesh on Sunday
remained smothered
in heat, with the temperatures
steadily
rising and famed
tourist spot of
Khajuraho the
hottest in the country
at 47.2 degrees
Celsius, the weather
office said. Life in
the state capital as
well as most parts
was also affected by
the strong hot winds,
or “lu”, which began
blowing early.
According to the report by the local meteorological office, this was the second time in May that
Khajuraho recorded a maximum of over 47 degrees. Apart from this, quite a few other places, including
Gwalior, Ratlam, and Rajgarh, recorded temperatures in excess of 46 degrees.
Rajasthan issues advisory on Nipah virus
Jaipur, In the wake of the several deaths
reported in Kerala due to Nipah virus, the
Rajasthan government on Saturday issued an
advisory, asking people not to travel to affected
parts of Kerala and
for officials to maintain
caution.
Presiding over a
meeting, Chief
Secretary D.B.
Gupta said that
Nipuh virus has
marked its impact in
the northern districts
of Kerala including
Mallapuram and
Kozhikode and
hence people should
avoid travelling in
these places.
It was decided all
medical officials in
the state will be kept updated on the information
regarding the Nipah virus via video conferencing.
Although there has been not a single case of
nipah virus registered in the state till date,A but
Health Department needs to remain extra cautious
on the issue, Gupta said. He also asked officials
to provide right information to people and
to ensure they reman extra alert. Additional
Chief Secretary, Medical and Health, Veenu
Gupta said that all joint directors and chief medical
officers have
been directed to
take special measures
in this regard
including setting up
rapid response
teams in the districts,
but requested
people not to panic.
If there are people
who have returned
from the places
where infection was
reported and they
are suffering from
fever or headache,
they should contact
nearby hospitals,
she said. Public Health Director V.K. Mathur
said that Nipah virus spreads to humans after
direct contact with infected bats or pigs or even
humans. Its symptoms are headaches, fever,
bodyache, cough, problems in breathing, vomiting,
diarrhoea, laziness and others.