There was an interesting discussion on Pavan Varma’s book, The Great Hindu Civilization, between Shashi Tharoor and the author, organised by the Kalinga Literary Festival. Infact, Tharoor himself has written a book on a similar subject (Why I am a Hindu). Tharoor began by saying that since he agreed with what Pavan had written it would be more of a love fest, for there was a lot of resonance in their thoughts. However, the only mild criticism he had—calling it an “immodest complaint”—was that Pavan had totally ignored his work while quoting others like Amish Tripathi. To which Pavan immediately responded that it was an omission, perhaps because he took the congruence in their thinking for granted. As Tharoor was late for the event, detained in Parliament, he logged on while he was in the car itself, leading Pavan to quip that his book launch seems to be a “moving experience” for Tharoor. The light-hearted exchanges apart, this was indeed a conversation worth watching between two articulate writers on a topic that is much under the scanner today. In fact, in his book, Pavan does take on both the left liberals from Nehru to Amartya Sen, Romila Thapar and Wendy Doniger as well as right wingers like Dina Nath Batra who claim that the invention of TV dated back to the Mahabharata, the birth of the Kauravas was the result of stem cell research and so on. Both the under-representation and mis-representation do a lot of harm to Hinduism. As Pavan says, “I don’t believe in Hinduva but in Hindu Satya.”
Food for Thought
Kapil Sibal’s dinner for members of the G23 and other opposition allies has been a wake-up call for his party’s leadership. This came soon after Rahul Gandhi assuming a pro-active role and reaching out to opposition allies. One can argue that Rahul’s sudden burst of outreach was spurred by Mamata Banerjee’s visit to Delhi recently, where she held numerous power pow-wows with other opposition leaders, including both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. It is clear that Mamata sees herself as the face of the Opposition’s fight against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but as the leader of the only pan Indian opposition party, the Congress doesn’t want to be left out of the leadership stakes. However, the fact that Sibal invited not just the G23 but also P. Chidambaram and his son along with other opposition leaders, is interesting, as is the fact that not one of the Gandhis was invited. That the BJD, TRS, Akali Dal and AAP sent representatives is also telling, for these parties rarely attend a meeting called by Rahul Gandhi. Does this then mean that the problem is not with the Congress per se, but with its leadership? If yes, then what is the next step? Because in the fight against the BJP, it’s not just the Congress but the entire opposition that has a vested interest in this answer.
Is Prashant Kishor joining the Congress?
The short answer seems to be a “yes”. The “why” is a little more difficult to explain. It is clear that without the Congress reasserting and reforming itself the Opposition cannot take down the BJP’s juggernaut. There are about 195 Lok Sabha seats where the BJP and the Congress have a direct face-off. Hence Kishor’s move towards the Congress can be seen as a step towards his larger goal of strengthening the Opposition.
Certainly, he is on good terms with most other non-BJP regional leaders and this will help him stitch some sort of a coalition together. It is also being said that his focus will not be state battles but the larger canvas of the next Lok Sabha elections. This strategy excuses him from the Uttar Pradesh elections, for the Congress is still not in a shape to take on either the BJP or the Samajwadi Party. But Prashant Kishor has also apparently made it clear that he will join only if he is allowed to operate on his own terms. Now with Rahul Gandhi himself complaining that he had not been given room to manoeuvre by the Old Guard during his term as party president, how can he promise the same to Kishor?
For the Old Guard has made it clear that they think much about an outsider being handed over the reins of the party. Also, Prashant Kishor is too seasoned a player not to know the gap between promises being made during courtship and their (lack of) delivery post acquisition.