More of the Same?
Whether the rest of India knew it or not, it seems as if Prime Minister Narendra Modi was already confident of coming back for another term (at the very least). And so, during his first term itself, with an eye on the future, he defied the old guard and began grooming his team for Modi 2.0, picking up novices whom he could train in the “Modi Way”. This angered the older lot who had been ministers in the A.B. Vajpayee era and felt they had a natural right to governance, such as Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, to name a few. But Modi went ahead and groomed the likes of Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smirti Irani, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore giving them key ministries in his first term despite their lack of experience. And though a couple of these names have fallen by the way side, most have emerged as the next Gen Leaders in Modi 2.0. The chief trouble shooter and doer, of course, remains Amit Shah (another name handpicked by Modi in his first term). But now he has Pradhan, Goyal, Sitharaman and Shekhawat as his chief executors within the government. This in a way is the mistake that Sonia Gandhi made in UPA 1, when she allowed Rahul the indulgence of time to come into his own. Because Rahul was reluctant to assume responsibility in Dr Manmohan Singh’s Cabinet, an entire crop of the next generation of leaders was curtailed and only brought into government towards the fag end of UPA 1, with mere nomenclatures and no real responsibility (although Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora, R.P.N. Singh, Jitin Prasada, Sachin Pilot were made ministers, only Pilot and Scindia were made MoS with Independent charge). So when Dr Singh sat down to make his team for UPA 2, all he did was juggle the names in UPA 1 as the next gen had no experience and more importantly could not be promoted as Rahul still refused to join the government. Well, different training models at play here. However, the Congress could be right when it argues that at the end of the day, even the BJP’s second rung is full of Yes Men and Women who are mere executors. For the real decision makers remain Modi and Shah. As the real decision makers during the UPA remained Sonia and Rahul. So, maybe the two models are not so different after all. But it makes an interesting case study all the same.
Read between the Lines
What’s with the Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders—don’t they talk to each other directly instead of exchanging pot shots and other communications over social media? First it was Jyotiraditya Scindia taking pot shots at state Chief Minister Kamal Nath. Scindia, through his supporters has made it clear that he should be the state PCC chief and not Nath, who holds both posts. Now even Nath’s old buddy Digvijaya Singh has taken to offering advice on social media. Singh recently tweeted a picture of cows on the Bhopal-Indore highway commenting that something needed to be done as these cows were in danger of being killed by the traffic. Without taking Nath’s name he asked—“where is the ‘Gau Mata Premi Gau Rakshak’ (the protector of cows)?” Nath immediately picked up the mantle and responded stating that “Digvijayaji you mentioned about the accident of cows sitting on the Bhopal-Indore highway. I have immediately asked officials to make a plan about security of cows on main roads.” Given the equation between the two one is not quite sure whether the jousting is in jest or there is an underlying subtext here!
After the Deluge
After Congress leader Salman Khurshid set the cat amongst the pigeons by stating the obvious—“our biggest problem is our leader (i.e. Rahul Gandhi) has walked away” instead of staying and introspecting over the Lok Sabha loss; other Congress leaders have stepped in with their views. Some chided Khurshid for going public; others like Scindia seem to agree that there is a need for introspection. Another young leader, speaking off the record, added that the leadership question was not yet decided with Sonia Gandhi merely filling the gap, and that the Congress should go ahead and hold elections. The view for an introspection at the very least, a shake-up at the most, has begun to do the rounds and the murmurs will only grow louder after this round of Assembly elections where the Congress is not expected to win a single state. But interestingly, Khurshid took to social media to answer his critics. In a Facebook post he stated, “Some colleagues in the party said these remarks hurt the party. It will hurt to say let us find out why we are hurt. It will not hurt if we continue to suffer hurt caused by the adversary…to pretend we have no pain is silly and maybe even fatal.” And for good measure he quotes W.B. Yeats: “The falcon cannot hear the falconer!” With Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari at least the Congress has a good debating team even if it lacks on ground leaders.