Do Look in the Mirror
Now that the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the Congress’s internal and external health is over, with even sympathisers unwilling to defend the indefensible, I thought it may be a good idea to muse on how the patient can be nursed back to health. It is not as hopeless as the wise men on our TV channels suggest. However, before this musing can begin, one has to admit that both the urban and rural voter is in a punishing mood. Congress spokespersons who deny the anger, no, rage, against the ruling party do themselves or the party no good. If you live in denial, you can still be thrashed. A more intelligent approach would be to acknowledge the reality and work towards winning 160 seats. That is the best the Congress can hope for.
If a week is a long time in politics, a year is an eternity. Although UPA-II looks perpetually on the verge of collapse, it is possible the government can continue till 2014. And it can live with Manmohan Singh as prime minister. You can call it a lame-duck government, you can call it a government without moral authority (there is nothing in our Constitution which states that ‘moral authority’ is an essential requirement for a government to rule), nevertheless it can last till the final day of its mandate.
I can spot two-and-a-half agents of rescue. First, the assumption that the BJP is the automatic beneficiary of a Congress loss is highly questionable. All opinion polls indicate that the BJP will improve its tally, but not by much. Say, 25 seats. Even if you work in the Modi factor, a clean sweep seems improbable. Two hundred and twenty seats with Modi is a bridge too far. So, the match is not all over.
Second, the Congress must utilise the next 12 months or less to give itself a new persona. Change the narrative, by which I don’t mean the narrative being played out in the ad blitz unleashed recently. I recommend to Dr Singh that he carries out a ruthless and comprehensive reshuffle. Present the country with fresh, young faces. In this makeover, overkill is necessary. These fresh, young faces must handle important portfolios. There is no reason why Jyotiraditya Scindia cannot be made foreign minister or Sachin Pilot be made to sit in the home ministry or Meenakshi Natarajan be the health minister. At some point, the Congress will have to retire the old guard. Why not do it now?
Margaret Thatcher, before she became PM, was like our PM, a poor and reluctant speaker. She took lessons and turned herself into a conference-stopper. While Manmohan Singh cannot achieve those heights, he can’t remain a speechless recluse.
The half agent of rescue is the Supreme Court. Mr Modi is neck-deep in numerous criminal cases. So far, he has been like the cat with nine lives. The law of averages suggests his luck may not hold indefinitely.
A Fast Demise?
I don’t know about you, but I am delighted that the wretched IPL is drowning in a sea of sleaze, scandal, crime, prostitution, drug money, the underworld, tax evasion.... There is hardly anything which is foul and illicit not available in the tournament. And they say this is the “tip of the iceberg”. For me, the revelations come as no surprise since the very basis of this perversion of a noble game—greed—is guaranteed to attract the kind of crooks over-visible today in our newspapers. In my last column, I was roundly castigated by some readers for being a snob, a sort of cricket aesthete, who could not digest the pleasures the aam aadmi obtained from a ‘fast game’. Well, look where the fast game has got us!
Those who claim to be shocked at how ‘a billion people’ have been betrayed are being rather naive. Don’t blame the players so much. Look at the smugness of the presiding masters, the BCCI, who thought up this money-making racket. Their response till date has been to suggest that the current controversy is a localised affair. Regrettable but localised. The show must go on!
Mike Marqusee writing in The Guardian says: “In IPL world there is no room for foreplay or post-coital rumination.” Perhaps. But there seems to be plenty of coitus and too little genuine cricket. Let us pray Sreesanth & Co have struck the last nail in the IPL coffin. The nation must in fact be grateful to them.
Ha, Ha, Fooled Ya
Those of you who think that the next book I intend to inflict on you is the sequel to Lucknow Boy are mistaken. That is a work in progress and could take a year. Instead, get ready for my 1972 biography of Meena Kumari which I wrote when I was a copywriter in an advertising agency. It may be mediocre but not entirely without merit.
On a weekend trip to Goa...
I had probably the best meal of my life. That’s at the Ritz in Panjim where they serve non-veg Hindu Goan food.
Vinod Mehta is editorial chairman, Outlook, and its founding editor-in-chief; E-mail your diarist: vmehta AT outlookindia.com
