Robert Vadra is in the news once again and expectedly not for a pleasant reason. The son-in-law of Sonia and the late Rajiv Gandhi owns a benaami property in London as per revelations by the Income-tax department. Vadra’s alleged links with controversial arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari are creating embarrassments within the Congress rank and file.
This is not the first time that Vadra is in a soup. Time and again, his business dealings have raised eyebrows with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) going the whole hog to implicate him and put his in-laws on a sticky wicket.
But in this context, one needs to read between the lines. When you are in politics play the political game. Quite contrary to this notion, BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is bent on giving India a Gandhi mukt Bharat (India without Gandhis) rather than a Congress mukt Bharat (India without Congress). BJP is not afraid of Congress rather it would be appropriate to say that it is scared of the clout that the Gandhis still have with the people of the country.
If we recall the events since Modi took charge as PM, the country has been a witness to a series of attacks on the Gandhi family. Be it Vadra’s business deals or the National Herald case or the AgustaWestland chopper scam or deleting the mention of Jawaharlal Nehru in some school textbooks or transferring a civil servant for praising Nehru, the target is 10, Janpath (Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s Delhi residence) instead of 24, Akbar Road (the Congress headquarters in New Delhi).
Right from taking jibes at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to calling the shots from behind to denigrate the Gandhi family, Modi is leaving no stones unturned to stymie the Congress party’s prospects. Despite claiming the almost decimation of the Congress party in the recently-held assembly elections, Modi and his confidante Amit Shah are in no mood to give up.
If we take a balanced view, every step BJP takes to run the age-old party down is only aimed at showing the Gandhi family in poor light. The reason seems simple: Congress without dynastic rule is as good as being thrown into oblivion. So, do everything possible to marginalise the family and you are on the right track.
The Uttarakhand crisis preceded by the downfall of the Congress-led government in Arunachal Pradesh only vindicate BJP’s intention to politically destroy the Gandhi family. By trying to create dissent amongst a section of the Congress legislators in both the states, BJP has only made its intentions clear.
Looking at the broader picture, being ambitious in politics is not a crime. But to resort to misdemeanours to achieve your goals is not acceptable. And the latter is the path that BJP backed by Rashthriya Swamsevak Sangh (RSS) is following.
It is left to the law to take its own course. Only time will prove whether the allegations levelled against the Gandhi family and its Men Friday are true or not. But veiled aggression combined with at-times direct assaults on the ancestors of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi can queer the pitch for the Modi-Shah duo.
Celebrations of the second anniversary of the Modi government are still in full swing. Animated and melodramatic speeches by Modi on the achievements of his government can hypnotise one section but he needs to look at the larger picture.
Drought, intolerance, falsified notion of nationalism, unrest in Universities, the Krishna-Godavari basin scam, lack of jobs, a BJP leader from Gujarat arrested on charges of molestation, a Maharashtra minister in the news for ‘connections’ with Dawood Ibrahim and the exaggerated hype over bikaas (development) are some issues that even Modi's loyal voters won’t overlook. And let's not forget that BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh too finds himself in the midst of the Bhandari controversy for making 450 calls to the arms dealer as alleged by the Maharashtra Congress secretary Shehzad Poonawalla . So, BJP's attempt to steer clear of misdeeds could boomerang. That day may not be too far, when Modi will have to face the heat for not living up to the expectations of the people.
There is no denying the fact that the Modi wave is waning. Mere tweeting and posting pictures of his meetings with esteemed personalities on social networking sites may not be good enough to earn him a second term in office.
The rise of regional forces and the possibility of a Federal Front challenging the Modi government need to be taken seriously. Instead of closing in on one family, BJP should try to take a fresh guard and look at other ways to face the challenges awaiting it.
On a concluding note, whether Vadra and his in-laws are guilty or not should be decided by the law of the land. But playing petty politics and taking the electorate for a ride could actually turn the tables on Modi.
Naatak kam, kaam zyaada (Less drama and more work): let this be your mantra Mr. Prime Minister. The strength of Indian democracy always powers over one-upmanship. If Indira Gandhi could be ousted from power post-Emergency, you dare not make the mistake of riding on a misnomer called over-optimism.
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