Bloodlines- Local versus Global
The latest oxymoron in my list is Family-Politics!
After being humbled by the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the heir apparent, Rahul Gandhi seemed more an apparition on 6/3/2012, accepting responsibility for the Congress’ poor show, and acknowledging the verdict as if he had a choice but to! Had Rahul G ‘delivered’ UP, at least he would have added some muscle to the vacuous claims of dynasty worshippers who had illusions of him donning the gaddi of the prime minister in future.
Rahul G’s campaign in UP was high on dramatics and low on earnestness. Whether it was his shrill campaign in Bhatta Parsaul, his resort to the so called padayatra politics or his stealthy visits to Dalit homes, they all symbolized an effort to reflect on the newscast of the day, with not an ounce of sincerity to attempt to cure the malaise. The man’s cynical exploitation of caste and communal identities that masquerades as empathy for the underprivileged, really didn’t work!
The glaring and often repeated visual of Rahul Gandhi tearing up the Samajwadi Party’s manifesto promises at a Lucknow rally, made for TRP and footage, but in the end it did count to null and void among the nine Assembly seats in Lucknow, the Congress won only one! Seemed all the histrionics was just for the television and media who followed him like the plague all through the campaign! It had become a sight for sore eyes!The “barsati mendak” or seasonal frog sister of his, could hardly prop him up, but add one more scene to the histrionics.Prince Robert and Pasta Mommy watched the decimation live!
Has this been a worst case of flawed understanding of reality on his part, or no more political alibis? Not even the precious Diggy Mama? Rahul G made no comment on the elections or results in the states of Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand where the Congress failed to make an impression. How could he?
Imagine in UP,Akhilesh Yadav’s eternal confusion of whether to call Mulayam Singh G “pitaji” or “netaji”…He is always going to be singing “paapa kehte hain”…Hope this enduring passion for “family-politics” doesn’t last forever.Sabko Badal daalo…oops did I say Badal? As in the father-son duo from Punjab which is so SAD!This entire family drama clutches power like designer handbags and even flouts it.Almost every party and state is running on bloodlines! Hope the heirs don’t loom.
“FRACTURED” mandate?Or Apna Haath Jagannath! –Family Drama Continues……