How pathetic is Congress for not being able to corner BJP over demonetisation
Can the lethargic Congress leadership kick itself out of the comfy Lutyens' zone of the capital and hit the districts, streets and mohallas of the country?
The demonetisation bomb has given the floundering Congress yet another opportunity to strike out and revitalise and renew itself, but all the party can do is to get its miniscule number of MPs to get into a huddle in the forecourt of Parliament to protest, or hold press briefings to a weary and disinterested media, even as Opposition leaders like West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal make a show of strength at street demonstrations in Kolkata and Delhi.
The party may be recharged by the surprise presence and consistent participation of vice-president Rahul Gandhi in the protests, interventions and disruptions inside and outside Parliament but do the people outside Lutyens' zone know what the Congress stands for on the demonetisation issue, what are its allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his NDA government?
Is it any surprise that the Bharat Bandh, called by the Opposition two days ago, withered in the face of the Congress’ abstracted stand, first on the bandh, then on the demonetisation issue itself? Opposition leaders like Bannerjee and Kejriwal may have the unreal but clear-cut demand of a rollback, but the Congress has confounded everybody with its list of demands and offers.
Not surprisingly, the questions agitating the lakhs of people queuing outside banks and ATMs to withdraw their money are not about the dishonesty and corruption of Modi and the BJP leadership, alleged by the Congress from day one, but about their own fear, discomfort and confusion over the future. Yet, the Congress has raised valid questions and allegations, which have forced a nervous reaction from PM Modi himself.
Consider this: Congress Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, accused Modi of “selective leakage” of the demonetisation move to his party members, who promptly transferred their black money into property, gold and other commodities.
It prompted the PM to tweet that “the problem of those criticising the recent decision against black money and corruption is that the government did not give them time to prepare”. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala called demonetisation the BJP’s “biggest scam” and demanded the PM make BJP accounts public with details of all property purchased by BJP leaders over the last one year.
Bizarrely, Modi swiftly ordered that all BJP MPs and MLAs declare their bank accounts post-demonetisation, that is from November 8, to date. It naturally invited smirks and barbs of why the PM was shying away from asking them to give details of a few months before the announcement to expose the news had indeed been among BJP leaders.
Now, how can Rahul and the Congress remove their accusations out of the Parliament sound room and blaze it all over the country?
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| As reports go, the Hindutva brigade has positioned their recruits even in bank and ATM queues to counter any complaints with the mantra of the PM’s noble act to boot out corruption. |
First, step out of the cozy, familiar mindset of Lutyens’ Delhi and unleash the army of Congress state and district leadership and party workers out on the streets, taking on the RSS-Hindutva-BJP foot soldiers who now dominate the landscape.
As reports go, the Hindutva brigade has positioned their recruits even in bank and ATM queues to counter any complaints with the mantra of the PM’s noble act to boot out corruption. Similarly, shouldn’t Congress workers be disrupting queues with their version of demonetisation?
Isn’t it time the Congress swayed a movement in the heartland taking on the RSS-BJP’s murderous gau rakshaks, love jihadists and communal agenda; apart from student movements, Dalit uprising, tribal displacement and other grassroots mobilisations?
For too long, the Congress has been seen as the party of Lutyens’ elite, the intoxicating world of networkers and schmoozers, deal makers and power brokers, fat cat politicians and billionaires who stuff their pockets while taking away industry and jobs, welfare and education, security and communities.
The string of corruption cases during UPA-II - from corporate bank defaults of a staggering Rs 8.6 lakh crore even as farmers committed suicide for being unable to pay a Rs 1 lakh loan, to coal, power and telecom scams - was paid for by the stunning and humiliating defeat of the Congress. Does the party have the courage to take on its own greed?
It’s not just good enough for Rahul to mouth poverty slogans and spare a thought for the poor and deprived - there has to be action on the ground led by the army of Congress workers at every street corner, who must listen, connect and act.
Empowerment of the people is key, as the Congress once knew, and which a Kejriwal, Nitish Kumar or Mayawati has used to good success. Perhaps, in the demonetisation case the Congress should go all out to the mandis, farmer cooperatives, commodity trading hubs to investigate, inform, gather data and mobilise the agricultural sector to take on the Modi government.
It’s no use of Congress crying that it has a hostile national media - the only way to smash the media status quo is to expose, chase, parade, broadcast the Modi government’s corruption, fraud, hoaxes, jumlas, and the media will be forced to take it seriously.
Unlike the time the Congress was in power and let off its most important adversaries in the 2002 Gujarat riots; the fake encounter killings and multi-billion corruption cases in the state, even the Snoopgate case which had embroiled Modi.
At the same time, it must propel social media to dominate and set the agenda, a tall call in the face of the well-greased Hindutva info highway, but not impossible to do.
It’s also time the Congress leadership spelt out clearly what its stand is on secularism, inclusiveness, freedom of media, thought, food, dress, economic reform. The time has come once again for the Congress to realise that, as someone once said, the majority in this country agree with the liberal position, we just need a liberal leadership to make it happen.