TMC, Congress And The Politics Of Arrogance

I am happy. After a long time I tend to have some love for our democracy which always was marred by dirty politics, sycophancy and corruption. Though I am not a big fan of Mamata Banarjee by any stretch of imagination, I yet still hail her courageous decision of delivering a royal snub to the Congress party. It was long due and everyone saw it coming a long time back. Even if the wait is good year and half prolonged but thankfully enough the D-Day finally arrived to the pleasure of many Indians who are buried under the arrogance, bad governance and corruption of Congress.

The latest news that is doing the rounds in south block is this Friday could very well be the last day of Didi’s association with UPA-II. Though it is still three days left for the day of divorce to arrive and three days is good enough a timeframe for the corrupts of Congress and many political Dalals like Barkha to work overtime in bringing in some kind of compromise between the aggrieved parties, it still doesn’t take away the bitter facts. At end of the week, things could very well be business as usual for Congress with Didi being cajoled back to the coalition but the writing on the walls are pretty clear for the top brass of Congress party to stand up and take notice. Trouble shooters of Congress might work on the SOS call to bring things back to normalcy but could this minor battle victory (if at all) undermine the larger war that looks all but lost for Congress?

Now here is the thing. As explained by our prime minister (for even issues like our Hockey team’s pathetic performance in Olympics), the politics of coalition is one heck of an arrangement to manage. More so when the constituents are of notorious types. It is really a tough ask to have people from different school of thoughts and yet bottle them in one mold. In the complexity called coalition politics, it requires some mature sense of urgency in listening to each and every one to make the marriage a success. In a real case of unity in diversity, that our democracy has turned into of late, one thing that is paramount for long existence of the coalition is mutual respect. In a classic case of compulsion where you find regional mass leaders hounding for your head at the drop of a hat, you have no option but to take one and all into confidence for the steps that are already been taken or planned to be taken in future. But has the Congress party done all this being the primary party of the coalition?  Perhaps not and i will explain why.

The reaction that Mamta Didi showcased yesterday is not because of an instant change of heart or priority. It has strongly got something to do with the Congress’s political management of last three years, which is shoddy to say the least. Time and again, it is the allies who were made to feel less important when it came to decision making or while taking important steps in governance. From TMC to DMK; from NCP to NC; it is always the allies who got a rough deal. Rather being like mature senior member of the ally, Congress always behaved like a big brother in matters that could affect each and every constituents of the coalition. When it came to taking new steps in governance or framing new policies, Congress always tried to shove their decision on others quite nonchalantly.  No one is consulted, no one is asked for their opinion. No one is enquired if they side on the thoughts of Congress. Decisions were taken unilaterally without even sparing a thought on how the so called allies would perceive such a move or how it is going to affect their political interest in the long run. In nutshell allies were never got their due respect and weightage as associates but rather treated as namesakes, only there to put up the numbers. ‘Hame proper Ijjat Nehin Mila’ as told by Mamata on more than one occasion speaks volume of the apathy that she or other allies had to go through being in the coalition.

As they say in political jargon, a bigger mandate comes with a bigger responsibility. But surprising enough Congress exactly went south with their behavior post 2009 mandate. While a number more than 200 should have given the Congress party a sense of more responsibility and injected more maturity in their political management, they rather went arrogant. While a phenomenal success generally brings that humbleness in greats it brought a sense of déjà vu among the ranks of Congress. For reasons yet unknown Congress took the mandate for granted and behaved as if they got the license to make hara-kiri in both political and governance decision making. How often you have heard Congress spokespersons vomiting absolute nonsense as answers for pertinent and nationalistic questions? How often you have seen them side kicking issues of national interest, all the while showing their superior authority just because they have a number more than 200 in Loksabha? How often you have seen them treating the voice of the nation nothing more than some rambling since it suited their cause that way? The arrogance in fact touched such heights that they came up with statements like ‘Elected and Electable’.

Now look at the payoffs for such arrogance. A nation from nowhere is on the brinks of being thrown into some midterm polls. This would again be wastage of national resource and national revenue. It costs the nation around 10000 crore to hold a general election god damn it. Who will pay for such wastage? Who will balance out the exchequer of such loss? We can’t just waste our money and that too of this margin, just because a bunch in Congress doesn’t know the art of tolerance and are not aware of something called ‘showing respect’. We can’t possibly afford or want to waste lakhs of our human resources in arranging fresh polls before time only because people whom we chose last time around were dingbats in their thought process and rot with their social behavior. All these probabilities that seem more eminent than they were during 2009 are because of a single party and their rotten behavior as the senior partner of the coalition. And yet none looks like available from their end to justify on why the nation should waste money of such proportion because of their arrogance?

Forget about the money for a second and see what else the nation could possibly lose because of this fiasco. A bill that is only probable and appropriate looking at our economy like the FDI in retail will bite the dust. I am no economist but can still stick my neck out and suggest all of you to closely notice an average present day retail store. Brats like Reliance and conglomerates like them need some serious competition. An average store with empty shelves all around and rotten veggies sold at a premium is anything but a sign that we need more serious and people oriented entrants to fix the behavior of our present day Banias. Like the Congress party these idiots also have gone bizarre and arrogant with the way they are dealing with their customers. But alas, the thugs in our retail market seem to have the last laugh at the end. If Mamata gets away with her plan then we better should forget any reforms in our retail sector for next ten years. I pity on the countrymen for suffering because of the arrogance of few irrational idiots.

All said and done, the position taken by Mamata has got mix repercussions for the nation. While it was all but necessary to bring down the arrogance of Congress to some rational level, at the same time the nation shouldn’t lose money for this. Haven’t we lost a lot for the arrogance already that we have to lose more? A good thing like FDI in retail, which again is long due could be put back into the slow pressure cooker for a time period nobody knows. This way or the other, the nation stands to lose a whole lot in its peruse of imparting some morality and humbleness within the ranks of Congress and I only blame the grand old party and few buggers in them for this loss, whole and sole. But as far as Mamata Banarjee is concerned – Didi, I hail this bold and courageous step which in a way good for the nation and many mentally sick people within Congress but you certainly could have timed it better. No?

By the way, Jagadambika Pal (another high grade sycophant) still feels TMC as an ally. Well then I still also feel Angelina Jolie as my girlfriend. Any takers?