India is in dire need of a strong opposition.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has now arrived on the national scene. She took on the Bharatiya Janata Party head on. Not only did she win, she increased her seats by three. A third term is a singular achievement. The BJP leaders fired all their electoral guns. They attracted huge crowds. Even on TV one could see that the applause was not spontaneous. It was induced by cheerleaders. The Home Minister time again repeated that BJP would get two hundred plus seats and form a BJP government. With due respect, this was quite unnecessary. I distinctly remember Indira Gandhi telling me, “No forecasts. Wait for the counting.”
Every jibe and taunt flung at Kumari Mamata Banerjee backfired. Bengal is a cultured state. The Bengali Renaissance was a unique feature of the second half of the 19th century. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore (above all), Aurobindo Ghosh and several others enriched the intellectual, literary, cultural and aesthetic ambience of Bengal.
The Bengali language has the exceptional distinction of being spoken in two countries, Bangladesh and West Bengal. The national anthems of both countries were written by Tagore. In politics too, Bengal has produced C.R. Dass, the Bose brothers, Shyamaprasad Mukherjee, Jyoti Basu, Pranab Mukerjee and Mamata Didi. Two Nobel Prize winners, Tagore and Amartya Sen.
I am not for a moment suggesting that contemporary West Bengal is the Bengal of Tagore or C.R. Das. But it played a great role and survived the partition.
Are the pracharaks of the RSS aware of all this? Surely they must know that Hindu religion, unlike Christianity and Islam, is not a one-book religion. One has only to read S. Radhakrishnan, Nirad C. Chaudhari and Wendy Doniger to know the greatness of Hindu Dharma .
What would be a folly is to write off the BJP. Yes, it has lost West Bengal, Mathura, Ayodhya and Varanasi, but it is certainly not down and out. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image may have been dented. This, in my judgement is a passing phase. A week is a long time in politics, said a former Labour Party British Prime Minister. Modiji is going nowhere till 2024. Even if the BJP does not win the elections in all the states going to the polls next year, Modiji will continue as Prime Minister. The RSS can produce no alternative.
What should be Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s priorities? Number one. Concentrate on containing and eradicating Covid-19. Number two. Be prepared for Covid-19 wave three. Next. Ensure good governance. Number four. Tackle unemployment on a war footing. Five. Take prompt action and decisive action against corruption. Two sides of corruption are retail corruption and wholesale corruption. You can successfully deal with all five, because the people have faith in you, the country admire your honesty, integrity, guts and your genuinely austere lifestyle.
India is in dire need of a strong opposition. Next to the Prime Minister, you are, metaphorically speaking the tallest leader in the country. Get in touch with Sharad Pawar, the most experienced and steady politician we have. Also with the Chief Ministers of non-BJP states. Don’t ignore the fading Congress. It still has life in it despite the Gandhis.
This exercise will not be easy. Because most Chief Ministers are political prima donnas, with hugely inflated egos. In my view (it is not worth much) you can do it. Do it you must. I wish you good luck and success.
***
Now I come to the lethal calamity the country is faced with. The world is changing, has changed, so have our lives. The worst sufferers are the destitute and the poor. Even more alarming and heart-breaking is the condition of little boys and girls who have been orphaned. Thugs, crooks, rogues will entice them, sell them. Others will put them in orphanages, which resemble hell holes. It is imperative that they be protected. Delay in this regard would be a monumental tragedy. The Ambanis are educating and looking after hundreds of similar children. Why can’t other corporate heads follow their example?
The first Covid-19 pandemic was handled intelligently, efficiently and promptly. The results could be seen round the globe. Covid two is another story. The government let down the country. The Prime Minister is not to be entirely blamed. It was a systemic failure. It is being said that wave three is round the corner. Prepare to combat it. Don’t be caught napping. I believe that the powers that are in working hard to contain wave three.
***
Two close friends passed away this week. Jagmohan left his mark in Delhi, Goa and Kashmir. His books sold well. He was admired and respected. I knew him well for nearly 50 years. He was 94 years of age.
Rashpal Malhotra, the founder director of the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development, Chandigarh, became a victim of Covid-19. He was 84. We were friends since the late 1970s.
My sincere condolences to the families of both.