[<<You are probably the first people in this country’s independent history who have fought an election not against a political party but against every single institution in this country,” Rahul said at his first meeting with the newly elected MPs of the Congress.
“There is not one institution that did not fight you and try to stop you from entering the Lok Sabha. You fought every single one of those institutions and you forced your way into the Lok Sabha. And that is something you should be extremely proud of.” The party president poured out his anguish against these institutions, without naming any, likening the party’s battle to the freedom struggle against the British when institutions served the colonial rulers.>> (Excerpted from sl. no. I. below.) That's just not "anguish", but a degree of realism. It's also significant in the specific context of the reports appearing in the media on the eve of the CWC meet, in the immediate wake of the electoral debacle, that there's an opinion, to be voiced in the impending meet, that the fiasco is the result of Modi's criticism being too strident: "Chowkidar Chor hai!" (Ref.: < https://www.news18.com/news/politics/negative-campaign-against-modi-chowkidar-chor-hai-slogan-backfired-says-anil-shastri-2157633.html >.) This line could have essentially two implications, not necessarily mutually exclusive. First, that the rats are preparing to desert the (perceived to be) sinking ship. Second - which is even more ominous, it's about time to strike a deal with the regime - that's the only way to save one's skin. The allegory used, above, by Rahul Gandhi makes it more than amply clear why every single drum-beater for Modi is unanimous on the point that for the revival of Congress - which this particular breed always wanted decimated, Rahul must go. (See, e.g.: 'Without Rahul’s exit, Cong can’t become the strong opposition that India needs' by Chetan Bhagat at < https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/The-underage-optimist/without-rahuls-exit-cong-cant-become-the-strong-opposition-that-india-needs/> and 'Out of my mind: Dear Rahul, just go' by Meghnad Desai at < https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/out-of-my-mind-dear-rahul-just-go-5760615/ >.) Here's an anguished, yet thoughtful, response from the very opposing camp: 'Rahul Gandhi Does Not Have the Luxury of Simply Walking Away' by Apoorvanand at < https://thewire.in/politics/rahul-gandhi-does-not-have-the-luxury-of-simply-walking-away >. <<Well, obviously, there are multiple factors and it will be unwise to confine oneself to a glib answer of one or two things. One was the larger-than-life personality cult built around Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Many voters didn’t have much of a sense of policies which the BJP was following. But they said it is Mr Modi who is the big, strong man who is going to keep the country safe and certainly, Pulwama played into their hands. It became this khaki election where they were essentially able to run this whole argument that the nation has to be protected from enemies outside and inside and that Mr Modi is the man to do it. Somehow the BJP marketed the national security issue very well and could convince people that this is the only issue facing them. A second thing undoubtedly, and I am sorry to say this, is communal polarisation. The BJP has not hesitated to make a pretty blatant display of their majoritarianism. A third factor, which I would say with a little hesitation, is that we misread the economics. We thought that given that unemployment is at a 45-year high, farmers are desperate and committing suicide, exports are down, and MSMEs have shut down in record numbers after demonetisation — so for all of these reasons we gave a strong message that we would handle the economy better than Mr Modi has done. It turned out that somehow none of this scored the kind of impact it should have had. The macro economy failed by the micro economy like Swacchh Bharat, building of toilets, the Ujjwala scheme — those things seem to have made an impact in many places. We have been pointing out that 65 per cent of those toilets don’t have running water and we were saying that most those gas beneficiaries can’t afford a refill. ... Most people I speak to on our side of the fence have profound misgivings about the EVM. But we are not raising it nationally because there is no proof. So we can’t be acting irresponsibly.>> (Excerpted from sl. no. II. below.) That's the cogent and articulate Shashi Tharoor. He has, however, appeared to have somewhat downplayed Pulwama-Balakot, though not ignored it. But, he had to tread rather cautiously. More so, having kept in mind: < https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/congress-not-to-send-its-spokespersons-to-tv-debates-for-a-month/story-r5xp260UhZWvIRL7pYLb7O.html >. In any case, cogency and articulation is, right now, far less than sufficient. What's needed most is fire in the belly.] I/II. https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/all-institutions-vs-us-rahul/cid/1691673?fbclid=IwAR1BbB48zU8u1Z-jl6qvYS9OBrrK_FKXNzGAl13MEM6ffg1GP2ulzf5uZJI All institutions vs us: Rahul Congress president poured out his anguish against institutions, likening the party's battle to the freedom struggle By Sanjay K. Jha in New Delhi Published 2.06.19, 3:01 AMUpdated 2.06.19, 3:01 AM 3 mins read Rahul Gandhi (PTI) Rahul Gandhi on Saturday underscored that the sacred principle of having a level playing field had been violated in the Lok Sabha elections by those supposed to protect democracy, saying Congress leaders should be proud that they fought not just one political party but “every single institution in this country”. “You are probably the first people in this country’s independent history who have fought an election not against a political party but against every single institution in this country,” Rahul said at his first meeting with the newly elected MPs of the Congress. “There is not one institution that did not fight you and try to stop you from entering the Lok Sabha. You fought every single one of those institutions and you forced your way into the Lok Sabha. And that is something you should be extremely proud of.” The party president poured out his anguish against these institutions, without naming any, likening the party’s battle to the freedom struggle against the British when institutions served the colonial rulers. Although many Congress leaders, and those from other Opposition parties, have criticised the role of the Election Commission during the polls and aired misgivings about electronic voting machines, Rahul spoke of institutional bias in a wider perspective. As the BJP machinery steamrollered rivals, doubts had been expressed in many quarters whether pillars of the republic, including the media, had discharged their responsibilities in a manner beyond reproach. At Saturday’s session, Rahul told the new Congress MPs: “You fought a very good election, obviously, because the people who won this time need to understand exactly what they fought.” Rahul spoke of the daunting task staring at the Congress workers while thanking the senior leaders for their guidance. “You have done a tremendous service in fighting for the Constitution and now you are fighting every single institution. There is no institution that is going to support you in this country, not one is going to support you. It is like (what happened) during the British period, when not a single institution supported the Congress party; yet we fought and won and we are going to do it again,” the party chief said. Both Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, who too attended the meeting, linked the future political battles to the survival of democracy, telling the MPs not to lose heart because of their numerical deficiency. The Congress won 52 seats in the 545-member House. With the party ranks downcast following a second devastating defeat after the one in 2014, Sonia and Rahul tried to motivate them by referring to the enormity of the challenge and the party’s responsibility to assure the nation that the Opposition would not give up. Sonia, who was again elected chairperson of the Congress Party in Parliament, said: “We must assure the people of India that we will fulfil the responsibility of an alert and responsible Opposition to strengthen our democracy and safeguard our Constitution.We will be at the forefront of the fight for the rights of the people, both in Parliament and on the streets.” Sonia hailed Rahul’s role as Congress president, saying he ran a valiant campaign and demonstrated fearless leadership by taking the Modi government head-on. Rahul reminded the party: “You have to first understand who you are. You are fighting for the Constitution of this country. That is who you are; you are fighting for the right of every single individual in this country, regardless of skin colour, religion, gender or state. And who is fighting against you? Hatred, cowardice and anger are fighting against you. Lack of confidence, lack of self-belief is fighting against you.” Recalling those who had confronted the BJP’s dominance in the previous Lok Sabha despite the Congress having just 45 MPs, Rahul said: “I am very confident that this time our 52 members are going to fight the BJP every single inch.” Sonia, too, congratulated the MPs over how they battled the odds. “Each one of you has fought one of the hardest elections of our career. We were up against an election machinery with all odds stacked against us — unlimited resources, ability to manipulate public opinion and the spread of mischievous propaganda,” she said. Expressing gratitude to the Congress workers for fighting for the ideology in the face of unprecedented hostility from the ruling party, Sonia said: “I want to thank each one of the 12.3 crore people who voted for the Congress. Your vote is a vote for safeguarding our Constitution, a vote for economic and social progress, a vote for liberty and for social justice.” Both Sonia and Rahul acknowledged that the Congress was facing a grave crisis and stressed the need for introspection and rejuvenation while keeping a close vigil on the government to measure its performance on truth, not falsehood. II. https://www.asianage.com/opinion/interview-of-the-week/020619/the-bjp-has-not-hesitated-to-make-a-blatant-display-of-their-majoritarianism.html?fbclid=IwAR3PCjUgwlPI2O5Dec2mRxfcMEF93zCNH337Cb7-xerO5pp2eaK3rDCm9GQ ‘The BJP has not hesitated to make a blatant display of their majoritarianism’ THE ASIAN AGE. | ASHHAR KHAN Published : Jun 2, 2019, 12:45 am IST Updated : Jun 2, 2019, 6:22 am IST I have seen Priyanka Gandhi as an effective and charismatic peson and somebody who is at ease with political work, says Shashi Tharoor. Shashi Tharoor After the rout in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress Lok Sabha MP and former Union minister, Shashi Tharoor, who won elections for the third time from Thiruvananthapuram, speaks with Ashhar Khan about the current political situation and the way forward for his party… *Let’s start with the question to which everybody wants an answer: What are the reasons of the Congress’ failure in this election?* Well, obviously, there are multiple factors and it will be unwise to confine oneself to a glib answer of one or two things. One was the larger-than-life personality cult built around Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Many voters didn’t have much of a sense of policies which the BJP was following. But they said it is Mr Modi who is the big, strong man who is going to keep the country safe and certainly, Pulwama played into their hands. It became this khaki election where they were essentially able to run this whole argument that the nation has to be protected from enemies outside and inside and that Mr Modi is the man to do it. Somehow the BJP marketed the national security issue very well and could convince people that this is the only issue facing them. A second thing undoubtedly, and I am sorry to say this, is communal polarisation. The BJP has not hesitated to make a pretty blatant display of their majoritarianism. A third factor, which I would say with a little hesitation, is that we misread the economics. We thought that given that unemployment is at a 45-year high, farmers are desperate and committing suicide, exports are down, and MSMEs have shut down in record numbers after demonetisation — so for all of these reasons we gave a strong message that we would handle the economy better than Mr Modi has done. It turned out that somehow none of this scored the kind of impact it should have had. The macro economy failed by the micro economy like Swacchh Bharat, building of toilets, the Ujjwala scheme — those things seem to have made an impact in many places. We have been pointing out that 65 per cent of those toilets don’t have running water and we were saying that most those gas beneficiaries can’t afford a refill. *Now what’s the way forward for the Congress?* My view is very clear. There are a number of things we need to do. One of them is to clearly restate what we stand for and push it hard. There was some confusion in people’s minds: Some people in the north saw us as BJP Lite, which was a big mistake. Rahul Gandhi, in going to temples, was actually trying to convey an inclusive Hinduism and not Hindutva. Hindutva has nothing to do with Hinduism. Instead it is a rabidly political doctrine. However, that distinction could not come across to everybody. I think his coming out and speaking spontaneously was excellent. I think we need to do more of this going forward. Second, I think we will have to swallow a bit of pride and make serious coalitions in Parliament and in the states. In this Lok Sabha we have 52 seats, but if we can come to an understanding with four or five other parties, we can be a constructive and strong Opposition. Also, we have to do an in-depth analysis by seeking ground reports as to what went wrong. We also need to tackle this at the state level. Now the Jharkhand, Haryana and Maharashtra elections are coming up — these are states we lost badly in the parliamentary polls. People say that in states we won in December last year, people voted for Mr Modi in the Lok Sabha election, but in these upcoming states there is no Mr Modi who is going to be their chief minister. So now let people judge Manohar Lal Khattar, Devendra Fadnavis and Raghubar Das. Their judgment may well be very different if we campaign properly. *Talking about introspection, the Congress had constituted the A.K. Antony committee that was to share the reasons of the 2014 Lok Sabha rout. Have you seen the report?* I believe it exists, I have not seen the report but that doesn’t mean anything as I don’t have a position in the organisation. But I am sure people who have to act on these things have seen it. *How do you view Mr Gandhi’s decision to resign and then your party leaders imploring him not to go, some even holding protests against his resignation?* Right now the preference of the party is very clear — that he stays. The decision is up to him until he says yes. I hope he continues with redoubled vigour. Nobody can say that he did not try enough in this election. He was campaigning really hard and delivering the message. *What is the issue over having a non-Gandhi party chief? You will be saved from the constant battering by the BJP because the Congress can’t see beyond the Gandhis.* I think you are being very generous to the BJP if you say that it will save us the battering — they will find something else to batter us with. When Dr Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, they claimed that he was a puppet of the dynasty when he is a man of great distinction and qualification. Dr Singh also had a remarkable life story: He came from poverty but by sheer hard work he rose up the ranks. Yet he was attacked by the BJP. So they will attack whoever leads. So we should continue with our strongest leaders. *How do you see Mr Gandhi’s defeat from the family bastion of Amethi?* Surprising. In fact, very surprising. One factor may have been that somebody with national responsibilities in a party could not devote as much attention to the constituency as somebody who was deliberately grooming and cultivating it. Actually, I don’t know why he lost. I was just surprised. Conversely, just look at the record win he has got from Wayanad. *What about Priyanka Gandhi Vadra? Was she brought in too late?* I have seen Ms Gandhi as an effective and charismatic person and somebody who is at ease with political work. To my mind there is nothing that can be said in the negative about her. About whether we could have used this weapon for a slightly longer time and in a more dramatic way, like in Varanasi…? But these decisions are well above my pay grade. Whoever decided must have taken all the pros and cons into account. This is only the beginning of the political career of Ms Gandhi. We will see more of her. *You were saying that the results were unexpected. Many in your party have raised questions over the EVM and want to go back to the ballot paper. Do you think there is an issue with the EVM?* Most people I speak to on our side of the fence have profound misgivings about the EVM. But we are not raising it nationally because there is no proof. So we can’t be acting irresponsibly. *Then why these misgivings?* The misgivings are there because the mismatch between the ground reports of experienced political workers and the actual results have been colossal across many places. I mean where, according to our report, our candidate was winning by a lakh votes and the result would be that we lost by three lakhs. Now how can we be so wrong? These kinds of extraordinary discrepancies between the feel on the ground and the results are relatively unusual. I am of the view that we can’t be raising a song and dance about this without proof because then we look like bad losers. *You think there is no need to go back to ballot paper?* The pressure within the Opposition camp to switch back to ballot paper is growing. I personally regret it as it may take ages to count so many votes as the electorate is growing. I think there is going to be a demand for using the ballot paper in one of the upcoming Assembly elections. But it is also true that the Election Commission (EC) has taken a view that it is a retrograde step if we go back. *Do you think that the Sabarimala issue had an impact on these elections?* It did have an impact but not in the way the BJP expected and we feared. We did fear that the BJP would exploit this shamelessly in order to polarise Hindu votes. But what happened was very interesting — with the BJP exploiting the issue, it led Hindu believers to ask that you say you stood by us but you were in power and what did you do? There was a Supreme Court verdict when the BJP was in power. Did it give a review petition? No. You have a majority in Parliament. Did you bring a law? No. The message that resonated with voters was that while they were in power they could not do anything. On what basis is the BJP asking for votes? But yes, it did affect the votes of the Leftist Party. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greenyouth/CACEsOZg9U_CipvQkWKQsdFNbJg7-wOgh-5coyLVy7yqHsJvy4g%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
