Resurrection of Congress

Bitter truth

By Anand

As the county watches the Modi spectacle unfold with wanton glee laden with expectation for, the already proverbial ‘Achchhe Din’, tiny but promising rumblings in the congress went unnoticed..

Though Rahul has failed to capture youth imagination, the spark cannot be ignored .Actually, when things are so bad even small gestures bring smiles may be that is why it is heartening to see RG hands on and focused and attempting. Though seriously lacking as the head of a mammoth party, he has managed to bring Congress from nadir to visibility. RG’s relentless tour and late attempt to touch base with people is better than never. But he has to break mould, come out of the cocoon and desperately get contemporary advice.

Fact is, we are still talking about him and the Congress and we can see scores of people for whom election is synonymous with the ‘hand’ symbol. Even today in this day and age of information It would not be surprising to find people who still do not know that the congress has been washed away. All this proves that despite the drubbing, Congress and ‘Gandhi ‘ remain relevant. He just needs to build on this but also understandthat the dynamics have changed. It no longer is Roti, kapda and makaan.

But more surprising is that Congress is yet to home in on the real Modi plot. Mr. Modi like all his colleagues in the Sangh has exhibited the primordial hunger to regain for India all her lost glory.

By imparting importance to erstwhile mundane subjects like clean surroundings and toilets he has ask Indians to look at themselves before finding faults with govts. Modi knows that in the world capitals Indians do not command respect a la` American and Modi strongly believes, I suspect, that America is just a circumstantial super power and not the deserving one. In Modi’s mind much like the average ‘Sanghi’ only India deserves to be in the position of pivot of the world pecking order. Mr Modi has changed the discourse from Roti, Kapda, Makaan to various aspects of higher living. He has shown a new end. Could be a pipe dream, but Indians are for now smoking on it big time. They are beginning to reinvent themselves. The average person on the street is no longer shy. He is beginning to be proud of being Indian.
All this bodes well for Indians.

However general feeling is that Congress dissuaded Indians from exerting themselves.The govt. policy for past 60 years has been to welcome aggressive people to India but NEVER did they support aggressive Indian businessmen to expand beyond India.

We do not know what the congressmen thought, but they never instilled confidence to the global go getter. That is the shell Rahul needs to break out of. He needs to believe that Indians can.

He needs to talk of his vision for India. He must device a roadmap to an India much better that what Namo is promising.

C Anand Velayudhan is  Special correspondent – India for an American Television Channel ‘

blissanand@rediffmail.com

(Views expressed are his own)