Cool Breeze: Wasting an Icon

WASTING AN ICON

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often been compared to Indira Gandhi rather than the former NDA Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for his bold moves, which is why it is ironic that the Congress isn’t doing very much to appropriate its own leader. The 100th birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi could have got a much more high voltage celebration from the Congress. Yes, the party organised a Centenary Lecture at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan, but the invitations were not even sent to all the party leaders and MPs. As a result, the hall was sparsely occupied with geriatric party leaders. Not a single Congress CM was present. As a Congress leader points out, the party should have invited all the CMs, PCC chiefs, former MPs, etc., and ensured they got enough party workers from all over the state. And the crowds would have come willingly, judging by the number of tourists who can be still be seen at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum at Delhi’s Safdarjung Road. At a time when the BJP is touting Modi’s decisive leadership, wouldn’t it have made sense for the Congress to play up its own decisive leader?

BETTER FLOOR MANAGEMENT

BJP MPs are wondering whether floor management in Parliament could have been better. The BJP requested the Chair if the PM could speak right after Manmohan Singh, but was told that there was a long list of speakers already pending and so the PM could not get an immediate slot. “If Modi had spoken after Manmohan, he would have stolen the headlines from him,” says a BJP leader. However, there was a way out—the BJP should have requested for the PM to “intervene” and he would have got an immediate slot. But the moment was lost and Manmohan Singh walked away with prime time applause. As a Rajya Sabha MP from the Congress quipped, “Dr Singh got his revenge for 12-and-a-half years of criticism from the BJP in just seven minutes.” Dr Singh’s speech was only seven minutes long.

SELF GOAL BY CONGRESS

The Congress, being the Congress, nearly scored a self goal the day former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was making headlines. It was a good day for the party, for Dr Singh’s parliamentary speech was getting good reviews on prime time channel discussions, when suddenly the Congress’ media coordination cell claimed that there would be an “important announcement” at 8.30 pm that same night. Channels were put on stand-by as whispers of a Rahul elevation to party president began to do the rounds. Half-an-hour later, as 8.30 pm came and went, the media was told that the announcement had been postponed since the party did not want to take away from the focus Dr Singh’s speech was getting in the TV studios. And what was the announcement in the first place? Apparently it was related to Priyanka Gandhi’s campaign schedule. Clearly, the Congress needs to get its blinkers off and focus on real issues.