India will be left with few genuine Sportspersons..... Power & Politics/The Sunday Standard/November 30, 2014

India Will be Left with Few Genuine Sportspersons if Mafia is Not Kept Off the Field

Sports and politics aren’t made for each other. But in India they make a perfect couple, united by moolah rather than mission. Last week, the Supreme Court used its most trusted and judicious pair of scissors to separate the two. After going through voluminous reports and arguments, the court made it clear that any syndicate of mutual interests and questionable conduct of players and administrators would not be allowed anymore. Though the observations concerned the ongoing shenanigans in the BCCI, they reflected the malaise of crony corruption, which has inflicted all of India’s sports bodies. For the past few months, many sports institutions and players have brought not only disrepute to the country but also exposed their preference for money over sport.

It’s not a coincidence that even after the apex court’s comments, not a single leader or party has condemned the malignancy corroding Indian sports. Of the 150 sports bodies in the country, there is not even one in which a politician or civil servant doesn’t hold an exalted position. Despite determined attempts by some sports-loving ministers, the government hasn’t been able to fix either a stipulated tenure or an age limit for office bearers to rule a sports body. Today, sports is the only viable and stable all-party coalition led by the Congress and BJP. Even regional parties like the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Farooq Abdullah’s NC are part of this unholy alliance. Its caliphs travel in style and stay in luxury hotels, while players (except national cricketers) are made to travel cattle class or by train and spend the night in seedy hotels. Some of India’s brilliant sportspersons are humiliated by other countries, but no political leader bothers to support their cause. For example, it was left to cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar to take up the cudgels on behalf of boxer Sarita Devi who unjustly faces lifetime expulsion by the International Boxing Association. In an earlier incident, the Badminton Association of India had imposed a ban on rising badminton star Jwala Gutta because she spoke up for her team against foreign players.

Meanwhile, the cash-rich BCCI has been at war with cricketers over the issue of ignoring players’ interests. As far back as in 1989, Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri, Arun Lal, Kiran More and Mohammad Azharuddin had agitated against the mighty bully for getting better contracts for players. But BCCI was able to neutralise them and similar others with pay hikes and monetary awards, which they deserved in the first place. This Cabal of Cricket is one of the dirtiest sports bodies in India, full of infamous and tainted operators deciding the fate of genuine players. Those who oppose its dictatorial princes are shown the door or punished severely. Because of the nexus between cricket administrators, match fixers and money lords, the image of some of the most successful players has been tarnished because they compromised with the lords of the game who refuse to vacate their glided thrones even after the expiry of their terms. The cricket mafia is the Badshah of all of India’s sports kingdoms. Controlling the game, whether it is a comparatively low-level sport like kabaddi or high-octane cricket, these paladins have ensured that a country of over 1.25 billion can’t produce even half a dozen Olympic gold medallists.

Collectively or individually, the conspiracy of the corrupt has thwarted all attempts to reform India’s sports governance. In the past two decades, sports ministers such as Uma Bharti and Ajay Maken attempted to make sports bodies transparent and accountable. Maken even drafted a bill, which sought to bring all such organisations under the RTI Act. He took it to the Cabinet twice. He got clearance from the PM and Congress High Command, but later both buckled under pressure from some Union ministers and Opposition leaders to drop the bill. It is not surprising that performing sports ministers have always been neutralised in every Cabinet reshuffle. Any minister who dared to challenge sports mafia by trying to bring it under RTI lost his or her portfolio. While all parties speak up on all sorts of policy makeovers, including economic reforms for rich corporates, they are conspicuous by their silence over changing the face of sports for the better. Narendra Modi, the country’s most powerful, effective, credible and popular PM, has spoken about his resolve to rid India of all dirt but has maintained silence on cleansing its filthiest sector—sports. Perhaps he is waiting for the iron to get hot.

The growing commercialisation of Indian sports has reached alarming proportions. Ever since IPL became cricket’s golden goose, it is not only big businessmen and Bollywood stars but also India’s rich and famous players who are bidding for teams in cricket, football, hockey and even kabaddi. Never have they bothered to improve sports facilities, give donations for creating better playgrounds or grant monetary benefits to encourage future champions. Instead they are investing millions to become part of the elite group of sports club owners. From sportsmen like Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, actors like Preity Zinta, Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham, and corporate players like India Cements, Vijay Mallya and Anand Mahindra, all own sports teams. According to insiders, senior ministers and leaders have been mounting pressure on various corporations to own teams and make huge payoffs to their organisations. Hence, companies are willing to oblige political masters by spending big bucks on inviting international players to play for their clubs, but are unwilling to adopt any school or college team, which could supply national-level players of the future. Unfortunately, sports is fast becoming a lucrative business for stars in business, glamour and even sports itself. Unless this trend is not reversed, the nation will certainly have some rich and famous players on its It-list, but few genuine blood and sweat sportspersons who can make India proud in the international arena.

Prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com; Follow me on Twitter @PrabhuChawla

Self-anointed Middlemen ..... Power & Politics/The Sunday Standard/November 23, 2014

Self-anointed Middlemen Pose Greater Threat to Hindutva than Gun-toting Jihadi

Divinity never dies. Neither do institutions that form the pillars of civilisation. Both will survive as long as humanity does. But some leaders and promoters of religion in the process of advancing their own commercial or personal interests cause incalculable damage to its sanctity. If understood and practised in its true spirit, religion does not teach hatred or advocate violence. It, however, comes under scrutiny when some followers assume the role of interpreters of faith and become subjective spinmeisters. Their names are legion—babas, sants, maulanas and evangelists. They treat faith either as a business enterprise or a weapon to divide mankind. With people asserting their electoral rights to choose their rulers, the conflict between religious contracts and the democratically established system is assuming ominous dimensions. As the younger generation acquires better education and access to unlimited sources of both pure and impure information, it is religion and its accessories that have become the greatest lure. What Marx and Mao couldn’t do to religious belief, the modern messengers of god have done, using weapons and anarchy. In India, materialism portrays religion as the worst enemy of progress and modernity. The real target, however, is Hinduism, which is the third largest religion of the world.  

‘Sant’ Rampal 

Last week’s saga of the so-called ‘Sant’ Rampal in which six innocent cult members met violent deaths reflects the threat which a powerful religion like Hinduism is facing from its own prophets and followers. As a result, Rampal is being perceived and projected by non-believers as one of the symbols of what is wrong with Hinduism and its ambassadors. His defiance of the state, the judiciary and uncivilised conduct of his followers were used by atheists and secularists to demolish the very idea of Hinduism and what it stands for. Horror stories about the activities in his palatial ashram became lethal arsenal in the hands of those looking for dynamite to demolish one of the world’s oldest religions. Until his downfall, Rampal wasn’t projected as the criminal he is, exploiting the poor and rural lower classes who looked up to him as a saviour. In truth, he was just another gangster who was using religion to expand his real estate empire all over north India, all the while misusing his connections with powerful civil servants and politicians to expand his vast congregation of the gullible.

 

Rampal is not alone. Many pretenders in various parts of the country have been using caste, community and even a glamorous lifestyle to woo millions of bhakts. Till date, over a dozen babas like Ram Rahim Singh, Ashutosh Maharaj, Baba Baljit Singh Daduwal, Amrita Chaitanya, Swami Premananda, Swami Nithyananda and Asaram have done enough damage to God’s name (read Sunday Magazine cover story, An Unholy Mess). All of them have much in common. They are richer than many top corporates, their personal life more colourful than many famous and infamous movie stars and politicians. By their avaricious activities, many so-called babas have added more converts to the army of Hindu baiters than even the good Lord could have done.

Hinduism, however, is not the only target of the enemy within. In the 1980s, Sant Bhindranwale used arms to defend his religious beliefs and encouraged the killing of thousands of innocents. The Taliban and jihadis are killing people in God’s name and extracting money and land to establish their own social order and the tyranny of inhuman warlords. There are numerous examples of Christian evangelists straying into undesirable adventures in the name of religion. But no other religion other than Hinduism is under constant attack by either non-believers or politically motivated intellectuals. They choose to forget that a pantheon of great and credible social and political leaders has defined Hinduism as a faith, which believes and practises inclusiveness and tolerance. Mahatma Gandhi wasn’t a diehard Hindutva propagandist. Yet, his words are: “If I were asked to define the Hindu creed, I should simply say: Search after truth through non-violent means. A man may not believe in God and still call himself a Hindu. Hinduism is a relentless pursuit after truth... Hinduism is the religion of truth. Truth is God. Denial of God we have known. Denial of truth we have not known.” Let us go further back into history. In 1893, Swami Vivekananda, who swept into a relatively newborn country like America wearing saffron robes that denoted an ancient faith, proclaimed, “I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance.” He told his supporters, “Say it with pride, we are Hindus.” 

Unlike most other religions, Hinduism neither has a specific time of origin nor a specific founder. Fraudulent oracles like Rampal used this weakness to invent their own bizarre interpretations. There appears to be strong economic reasons too for fake religious propagandists to flourish in society. An analysis of the followers of controversial godmen reveals that they come mostly from poor backgrounds and are denied unhindered access to healthcare, education and proper employment. Hence, they find solace in the hawkers of salvation, peace and good health. The proliferation of deras and ashrams is the direct outcome of the establishment’s failure to maintain India’s original character as a welfare state. All instruments of governance have fallen into the hands of oligarchies. By following pro-rich policies, they have raised aspirational levels of Indians living below poverty line. Even the rich who have been denied a share in the Growth Story turn towards the powerbrokers of God to get access to the rulers for money, healthcare, jobs and even clean water. Since India is a country inhabited predominantly by Hindus, it is Hinduism that has become the roadblock for those who want to divide the nation. Hence, the self-anointed middlemen of Hinduism pose a much more serious threat to Hindutva than even gun-toting jihadis.

prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com; Follow me on Twitter @PrabhuChawla

Blame Famill Planning ... Power & Politics/The Sunday Standard/November 16, 2014

Blame Family Planning Anathema on Those Who Have Made It a Protocol of Tragedy

The epitaphs of good causes are written by bad intentions and the demons of avarice. Restricting India’s burgeoning population is not a matter of faith but also a mission for survival. Over 1.5 million babies are added to the existing 1.26 billion figure every month. All serious attempts to calf rope the baby boom has got stuck in the quagmire of controversies for the past four decades. Last week, over a dozen women lost their lives in Bilaspur in the poor, tiny state of Chhattisgarh, thanks to botched up sterilisation procedures. Around the same time, in massive Uttar Pradesh, a surgeon reportedly took just 90 minutes to complete 42 sterilisations at a Primary Health Centre in Kushinagar. The tragedy of bureaucratic insouciance is that many health officials and government doctors are driven by the kudos of achieving targets at any cost, rather than the safety of patients. A grim aspect of poverty is that the poor will accept government money to participate even in good schemes. The Chhattisgarh sterilisation victims were paid `1,400 each to go under the knife. Award-winning surgeon Dr R K Gupta reportedly conducted 83 surgeries in less than three hours. His scissors and spurious medicines were competing in a deadline race, as the doomed women lay sedated in a conspiracy of negligence. When news of the disaster broke, the state government followed the usual standard procedures. The doctor was arrested, officials suspended and swift raids were conducted on the illegal drug makers who were manufacturing medicines from a two-room residential property in Raipur. Finally, a probe was ordered after PM Narendra Modi dispatched an expert team from the prestigious AIIMS, New Delhi, to take over the recovery and healing operation. Further surgeries were postponed for an indefinite period.

The famous Red Triangle, which symbolises family welfare, has been tarred with the black pitch of greed and apathy. Obsessed by the development catch phrase, all parties seem to have forgotten that the population is also developing at an alarming rate. Few political leaders, civil servants or even NGOs promote or speak on steps or programmes to educate the illiterate and poor about the curse of having large families. The slogan of ‘Hum Do, Humare Do’, which was once visible on myriad hoardings and the betel-stained walls of various government institutions has simply vanished.

Obviously, no political head rolled in Chhattisgarh or UP. None was expected to because in all the states the targets fixed were un-achievable and besides, they weren’t responsible for prescribing medicines or setting operational procedures. But their culpability is the highest because they do not see to it that population growth is restricted to ensure proper implementation of rapid development methods. Both the Bilaspur and Kushinagar incidents once again raise doubts over the success of India’s population control drive. The fallout of the deaths was medical paralysis: in many states, officials stalled further surgeries fearing they would be hauled up for criminal negligence.

Chhattisgarh and UP aren’t the only states where award-chasing scissor hands and officials were engaged in carrying out lethal surgeries on women who were looking for a bit of cash and relief from carrying unwanted babies. According to health ministry sources, 340 women have died in the past three years during or after sterilisation. The horror of Chhattisgarh and UP made the headlines of almost all newspapers and news channels. The international media dutifully picked it up. Even UN agencies took note. It is obvious that India is once again in the crosshairs of those who oppose coercive or incentivised schemes for population control in the name of human rights. An over-populated India would pose a lesser threat to the established global order than an emerging power with reasonable Census figures.

Since the Emergency, when forced sterilisations became a political issue, family planning campaigns have remained low key for the past 35 years. Afterwards, Ghulam Nabi Azad, UPA’s health minister, was the first to initiate various population control measures among the poor. But he was wary of talking about it because of the political and communal implications. Azad was only taking a cue from the Nehru-Gandhi Parivar. It was Jawaharlal Nehru who started the Family Planning Programme in 1952. Later on, Indira Gandhi created a full-fledged department of family planning under the health ministry in the late 60s. Finally it took Sanjay Gandhi to fix population control targets—however impractical—for government officials. Indira was so concerned about India’s swelling population that she was even willing to suspend fundamental rights to ensure a reduction in birth rates. In a speech made during the Emergency, she said, “We must now act decisively and bring down the birth rate speedily. We should not hesitate to take steps, which might be described as drastic. Some personal rights have to be kept in abeyance for the human rights of the nation.” Following these strong words, Sanjay organised massive sterilisation campaigns and even unmarried men and women were forced on to the operation table. The programme became so notorious that for the next two decades, none of the leaders even whispered the word ‘sterilisation’. The department’s name was changed from family planning to family welfare. Even a powerful and popular Prime Minister like Narendra Modi has hardly spoken about family planning in the 500 speeches he has delivered in the past one year.

Though India’s birth rate has fallen drastically, at 2.3 per cent it is still one of the highest in the world.

Since the death rate has declined due to better medical facilities and education, this rise in population is ominous. If this trend continues, it could surpass China’s in less than 15 years. Much worse, our fertility rate of 3.4 per cent is the highest among the developing nations. Madhya Pradesh, UP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Bihar account for almost half of India’s population. While well-meaning and glamorous projects like bullet trains, digital India, Swachh Bharat, Make in India etc. have found a place of prominence in Modi’s Mission India, keeping the population figures under control, unfortunately, is conspicuously missing. In the global world of markets and money, the phrase ‘family planning’ is anathema—seen as retrograde, regressive and politically incorrect. The blame lies entirely with the civil servants and leaders who have converted a humanitarian cause like population control into a protocol of tragedy using the wrong means and methods. The requiems for the unmourned, faceless women of Bilaspur and Kushinagar will echo in the soul of India for a long time to come.

Prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com; Follow me on Twitter @PrabhuChawla

Modi will Create History .......Power & Politics /The Sunday Standard/ November 09, 2014

Modi Will Create History if he Succeeds in Making People of Uttar Pradesh Accept a Gujju as Saviour

Poverty is often the petri dish of power. Uttar Pradesh is one of India’s most deprived states, but politically, the most powerful. Every seventh Lok Sabha MP is from there. Before Narendra Modi became the PM, eight of India’s 13 PMs were from UP. Since Independence, they have collectively ruled the nation for 47 years. For Modi, the ninth PM to be elected from UP, the state’s political numerology is significant. Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the BJP’s first PM, because one-third of BJP Lok Sabha members came from UP. In 2014, the party won a record number 0f 71 seats. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first PM, and Modi, the present PM, are both from the state. Other PMs who were launched in UP were Indira Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajiv Gandhi, Charan Singh, Chandrasekhar and Vishwanath Pratap Singh.

Last week, various parties and leaders, including Modi, initiated moves aimed at acquiring dominance over UP. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, fearing the total decimation of his outfit, decided to bring the ossified Janata Parivar factions together, hoping that it would keep their traditional vote bank intact. The RSS has also scaled up its activities in UP, with its top leadership spending more time in the state, deploying additional forces to consolidate its base and capture new pastures. Last week, the PM chose to stay overnight in his constituency, Varanasi, as part of an unfolding plan to consolidate his grip over the state. He chose to represent the holy city because it is a symbol of Hindu heritage and one of the most sacred of Gangetic destinations. Aware of the fact that he is the first non-UP leader to become the PM after getting a handsome mandate from Varanasi’s voters, Modi has decided to return the favour. He doesn’t belong to any of its dominant castes such as Brahmins, Thakurs and upper caste Kayasthas like Shastri, but it hasn’t stopped Modi from getting the new Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar (who is likely to be elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh within 24 hours of his swearing-in). This reflects his intention to raise the level of UP’s participation in his Cabinet. It is for the first time that the PM, the home minister and the defence minister, all represent Uttar Pradesh in Parliament. Though both Modi and Parrikar aren’t from UP, along with Rajnath Singh, they make a formidable troika that can demolish all hostile political combinations. 

With the induction of Parrikar and other ministers, UP will have the maximum representation in the Central government—Uma Bharti, Kalraj Mishra, Maneka Gandhi, Santosh Gangwar, Gen. V K Singh and Sanjeev Kumar Balyan. Previously, such a situation had happened only during Morarji Desai’s reign, during which he inducted four Cabinet ministers from UP, including Chaudhury Charan Singh as the home minister. Rajiv Gandhi ensured that powerful leaders like Narain Dutt Tiwari, V P Singh, K C Pant and Mohsina Kidwai were given prominent positions. Barring G B Pant, who was India’s first Home Minister from UP (then the United Provinces), it was only Charan Singh who held the honour. Additionally, for the first time, three of the five members of the all-powerful Cabinet Committee on Security represent Uttar Pradesh. It is not just a coincidence that they enjoy the full confidence of the RSS leadership. Although Modi has his eyes fixed on Bihar and UP since almost half the Lok Sabha seats the party won are from these two states, it is the only in UP where his twin mantra of Hindutva and development can deliver handsome dividends. On the face of it, UP is caste-ridden, communally polarised and is bereft of any national leader. But for a large number of aspirational UP-ites, Modi has projected himself as the messiah of modernisation, a liberal Hindu and a leader with nationwide appeal.

If the future contours and content of BJP’s Operation UP is an indication, Modi would be spending about 20 days every year in the state. He has already established a full-fledged office equipped with state-of-the-art technology to monitor not only Varanasi but also the entire state. A special cell is to be set up in the PMO under a senior officer who would keep a real time watch on all developments in Uttar Pradesh. But Modi’s trump card appears to be the Ganga. By putting Uma Bharti, a Ganga devotee, in charge of the river rejuvenation project, he expects to influence the voters of 45 Lok Sabha seats and of over 200 Assembly seats situated along and around Ganga’s path. UP is the only state in which the RSS, the Union government and the state BJP work in perfect coordination. While RSS workers identify relevant issues at the ground level and present their wish list to their leadership, the state unit of the BJP forwards it to Om Mathur, the Central leader in charge of Uttar Pradesh.

It was Amit Shah who chose Mathur, who had assisted him in the Gujarat and Maharashtra Assembly elections for the job. He is supported by a few trusted political aides from Gujarat and other states. In addition, all the infrastructure ministries have been instructed to pay special attention to pending projects in UP, give them the extra push to take off, and also pump in generous funds. Both Bharti and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari have done a detailed study of various water- and road-related issues and will be spending their maximum time in the state. Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu has been pushing for the development of the maximum number of smart cities in UP. If Gujarat was the laboratory for the Hindutva experiment, Modi is turning Uttar Pradesh into an exhibition venue to showcase his development agenda, while retaining Hindutva as the core ingredient. His plan is to restore the state’s national status it had lost in the churning of regional politics. Team Modi is now marketing the PM in the state as a leader who would replace titans like Nehru, Indira and Vajpayee. Modi will create political history again if he succeeds in making the Hindi-speaking and god-fearing UP bhaiyyas accept a Gujju as their saviour.

prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com; Follow me on Twitter @PrabhuChawla

Blackmail by Regional Parties would end..... Power & Politics/ The Sunday Standard/November 02, 2014

Blackmail by Regional Parties Would End If Both Gandhis and Modi Stick to Going it Alone

The Congress is out. But its High Command is not down yet. The BJP is in full command of national politics and its High Command is aiming very high. If the signals and posturing of the leadership of both the parties are indications, it is clear that they want to marginalise and manacle regional parties and caste satraps. According to insiders in both the parties, regional outfits in the election-bound states of Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand would not be invited to join as poll partners. Last week, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi decided to assert his authority, as he is wont to sporadically. He directed his team to inform the Shibu Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to take a walk or fall in line. At the same time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his A-Team told Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to show up at Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ swearing-in ceremony or stay indoors forever. Now, by all indications, both national parties will fight the J&K polls without local allies like the Abdullahs-led National Conference (NC) and the Mufti Mohammed Sayeed-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The signs are very clear that India is heading towards bi-polar politics in which regional parties would neither be able to dictate government formation nor dominate the agenda for governance. Modi took the lead by asserting his authority and advising his political operators to ensure that regional leaders did not decide the terms of engagement. Soon after winning an unprecedented mandate in the Lok Sabha elections, he snapped ties with ally Haryana Janhit Congress in Haryana and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra in the state polls. His idea was to test the winnability and acceptability of national leaders and parties in states where local castes and parochial parties played decisive roles. Taking a cue from the BJP, the Congress followed the same principle of setting terms and offering unacceptable deals to local partners. As the BJP dumped its 25-year ally in Maharashtra, the Congress made it impossible for the NCP to continue as a coalition partner. The past state polls turned out to be a battle between regional sentiments and national aspirations. The voters chose Modi and his mission. For the first time in history, the BJP formed the government, both in Haryana and Maharashtra.

Presently, the Congress’ decision on Jharkhand has far-reaching political consequences. By all indications, the tiny state is poised to vote for the saffron party, which has decided to fly solo. Perhaps, the Congress is imitating this principle in order to recapture its number two position and decimate the two regional outfits—JMM and BJP rebel Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha. Jharkhand has been most unstable since it became an independent state, carved out of Bihar. Of the three new states, it is the only economically regressive one, while Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh are performing superlatively.

The decision to marginalise regional parties appears to have been taken in the spindrift of the Modi Wave in the Lok Sabha elections. Before that, NaMo was on a binge to forge alliances with anyone and everyone to prove his growing acceptability. He encouraged defections. He struck deals with caste-based parties in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, even making tainted leaders a part of the grand alliance. Soon afterwards, he realised that the NDA won not because of these alliances but solely due to his charisma and promises. Similarly, the Congress felt that none of the regional parties could bring it additional votes, since it had lost its traditional bases already.

According to a recent review done by some prominent Congress leaders, it was found that the party has been shrinking ever since Rajiv Gandhi chose in the late 80s to partner with local parties in the north and the west. The trend started in 1990 in Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress struck an alliance with Mulayam Singh Yadav, and later with Mayawati. Since then, it has not won even 10 per cent of the total Assembly seats. In each state where it had local frenemies, its vote share and seats nose-dived. The loss of Maharashtra, a traditional Congress bastion, to the BJP has come as big shock. After its recent electoral reverses, the Congress has lost almost all the big states except Karnataka. It rules Kerala as part of a shaky alliance. The party cannot think of returning to power in any other southern state in the immediate future. In the east, it rules in picayune states, while regional parties control the major ones such as West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar. In the north, the forecast is grim. It has no hope in hell to return to power in Uttar Pradesh. It is pitted in a direct fight with the BJP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Goa and Gujarat. If one surveys India’s political colours, no Congress rainbow shines over 300-odd Lok Sabha seats even though the party rules over a dozen tiny states. On the other hand, the BJP has gained access to over 100 seats, which it had never won in the past. Modi has already chosen a potent and dangerous slogan, which asks voters to vote for the party in the state, which is in sync with the ruling party at the Centre. The voters of both Haryana and Maharashtra fell for this promising postulate.

The Congress has now chosen to mimic the Modi Mantra. After two decades of flirtations with regional leaders to keep the BJP out of power, the Gandhi Parivar has realised that the strategy has boomeranged. Not only has the Congress been forced to vacate its political base for local parties, it also faces the danger of being reduced to a regional party led by a national leadership. Its High Command is not yet reconciled to the idea that a regional leader has acquired a pan-India status with a national following. National leaders like the Gandhis are about to become stateless leaders. The fear of losing their iconic halo has compelled the Gandhis to go it alone. Meanwhile, Modi’s aspirational mission to become a global leader is driving him to decimate his adversaries. If both the Gandhis and Modi stick to their guns, the country would be rid of the pox of political blackmail by regional parties and caste calculations. To achieve this, the Gandhis on their part will have to show the patience of a Sphinx.

prabhuchawla@ newindianexpress.com; Follow me on Twitter @PrabhuChawla