Thought for the day
"Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for
the tree."
-
Rabindranath Tagore (Indian, 1861-1941)
Word for the day
Anthesis (v)
The period or act of expansion in flowers, especially the
maturing of the stamens.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
Is the "Breaking News" syndrome ripping apart the
basic fabric of the society by sensationalizing trivia, or it truly seeks to
invoke and give some purpose to the indifferent populace?
It's not the one you are looking for
Caught in traffic jam caused by Congress party workers over the
Land Bill issue, I decided to give up and join the small but spirited group. It
was nice to be treated with some tea and snacks after a round of sloganeering.
The slogans were mostly uninspiring and targeted to please the party President
rather than farmers. The usual Sonia ji sangharsh karo hum tumhare saath
hain (Sonia ji we are with you in your struggle) appeared rather trite.
An impromptu discussion with some workers from Haryana and
Punjab during the tea break was quite revealing. None of the 10 young
demonstrators, all from farmer families, had any clue what they were protesting
about! Three of them had political ambitions and the rest just tagged along.
After spending well over two hours, I could make out that Congress
is dissipating its scarce energy on something that may not yield any electoral
dividend for it. To the contrary, by making the land acquisition issue a
platform for comeback the party may actually be helping the regional opponents
like JDU, SP, TMC, TRS, TDP, Shiv Sena, NC and BJD.
The agitation over land acquisition may have temporarily created
some poor sentiments against the NDA government in rural areas, but the
Congress Party is in no position to capitalize on it.
The data prima facie suggests that the segment potentially
aggrieved by the land law is relatively much smaller to cause material
electoral reverses at national level in 2019 general elections. In my sense,
for making a comeback, the Congress Party needs a substantial issue that could
touch at least 50% of the households and then vigorously pursue it for the next
four years.
A stroll back in history would tell the Congress Party that
regime changes in India have occurred when the ruling party/group got
disconnected with the bottom of the pyramid in pursuit of faster economic
growth (or personal ambitions) and opposition could rake in an emotional issue
to fill the chasm. It was Mrs. Indira Gandhi (and emergency) Rajiv Gandhi (and
Bofors), Narsimha Rao (and JMM bribery case) Atal Bihari Vajpayee (and Aam
Aadmi) and Manmohan Singh (and 2G and Coalgate).
2009 victory of Congress party despite all economic mess,
occurred due to MNREGA that kept it connected with the poorest amongst poor.
The issues like FDI in retail, multiple scams which were seen as pro rich
allowed BJP to make an entry on traditional turf and afforded the Congress
Party its worst ever defeat in 2014.
The way BJP is going, I believe material improvement in
macroeconomic conditions & governance standards, and direct connectivity of
leadership with masses, will leave an extremely thin crack for the Congress
Party to sneak in. The Congress Party would therefore need an explosive issue
to widen the crack; which the land acquisition is certainly not the one.
I will delve a little more on the land acquisition issue in next
couple of days, before I leave for a 10day trip to central India to assess the
feelings of villagers and tribal people about new land acquisition and mining
laws.
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