Make 2024 Modi vs Priyanka and get me the popcorn

This Sunday something extraordinary happened. The entire counting day, I did not have a single drop of whiskey. You will be wondering if I had vodka or gin, but let me assure you I did not touch alcohol. And it helped me see the elections for what they are. So here are my takeaways, not coloured by any shades of the bottle.

Modi magic

For the first time since 2014, Narendra Modi was not the biggest factor in an election. Unlike earlier elections, we didn’t see planted reports in the media that claimed how Modi turned things around in the last one week with his magnificent oratory and spectacular roadshows. One big sign that even the BJP was cagey about putting the PM in the front. But seeing how things turned out, Modi won the elections for the BJP in two states - in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where ED too probably did its bit with its election-eve raids and arrests. Madhya Pradesh was won by a cornered Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The 3-0 sweep of Hindi heartland however has added further to the Modi aura. It will inspire BJP voters and workers and demotivate Congress workers. Invincible Modi is the branding that is getting traction.


Cong clueless in Madhya Pradesh

If Chhindwara was a state, then Kamal Nath would be its CM. The trouble is Chhindwara is not a state, and outside of Chhindwara, Kamal Nath doesn’t have much appeal. Kamal Nath has been around since 1975 when emergency was imposed. If he had to become a CM, he would have become one in the 50 years or so he has been in politics. The other leader Digvijaya Singh, became a CM in his 40s. He is keeping the seat warm for his son, possibly to make a serious bid for power in the next elections. In 2018, the Congress had all the regions covered with the Scindia-Digvijaya-Kamal Nath trio. But after the elections, the old guard smoked out Scindia or Scindia walked out for a bungalow and power in Delhi, whichever version you want to believe. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was their best bet, and the punt failed.

Hindutva

2014 was a vote for Vikas, 2019 was a vote for Hindutva-plus, but 2024 will be a vote on governance. Many analysts will say the Congress lost the three states in the Hindi heartland because of Hindutva, because of Udhayanidhi Stalin’s comment on Sanatan Dharma. That is the easiest excuse to make. The Congress vote share in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh has remained roughly the same. No Hindus switched their votes from the Congress to punish the party and save the religion. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the vote share of other parties came down and the BJP was the beneficiary. Leaders like Kamal Nath, Bhupesh Baghel feared Hindutva so much, they got busy making schemes for gauraksha and gobar and lost the larger plot.

We should remember that Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao – all of them pandered to Hindu sentiments. Sonia Gandhi brought a kind of liberalism into politics which helped the BJP play the “Hindu khatre me” card. She also brought in the concept of rights-based governance in a society where people are used to mai-baap culture. Ten years later, the BJP has occupied the national party space, reducing the Congress to a few states.

Today the non-core Hindu voters of the BJP feel their religion is safe under Modi, they are voting for Modi because they think he is doing a great job. Now, what you think are failures of the Modi govt in matters of governance are being seen as good policy by these voters. Remember even deaths during second Covid wave and demonetization did not change the view of these voters despite suffering so much pain and loss.

Hindutva has run its course. It has saturated in many parts but will find some growth areas too. But if the BJP wins 2024 it will be because the voter likes Modi’s governance.

North-South divide

The North-South divide is real and has been there forever. Make no mistake, Hindutva has takers in South India too. At some point the BJP will open its account in Kerala and it could become the principal opposition in Telangana or Andhra Pradesh. Hindutva can help the BJP attain a critical mass, like in Karnataka, but the party will have to look beyond Hindutva to rule the southern states.

One reason is that people of these states have strong feelings about their culture. Any attempt to impose one shade of Hinduism will meet with stiff resistance from them.

The Congress, however, can’t give the North-South divide as a reason for their failings. Instead they should export the energy and enthusiasm shown by its cadres and leaders in Karnataka and Telangana to north India.

After all what is the use of contesting elections if you have already given up the fight? If that is the case Congress might as well shut shop and go home.

Caste census

The caste card remains the biggest antidote to Hindutva. Analysts will say it didn’t work in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. These states though were not affected by the caste politics in the Nineties though, why should they be now? Caste census is an issue for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the original Mandal vs Mandir battleground. More than the Congress, it is an issue tailormade for parties like the SP and RJD.

Priyanka factor

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra remains the best communicator the Congress has. Rahul Gandhi can walk all that he wants, but he is unable to send his message across effectively. His image among many Congress sympathizers is that of a ‘nice boy not meant for politics’.

Unlike Rahul, whose every statement is distorted, his sister has a knack of effectively countering her rivals’ political attacks. Her punchy dialogues at election rallies in Karnataka have defanged the victim card played by Modi very often during elections. She merely asked, “How can a man who has been in power for so many years, flies superjets, come to you complaining about insults instead of listening to your troubles?”

Brand Priyanka is no match for Brand Modi, but it is the best Cong has today.

Natasha & Devangana: The Deepti Navals of Activism

This week two student activists ruled the Internet. Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita. 

The JNU students, who have been charged under the anti-terror law UAPA, were released on bail Thursday evening from Tihar jail after 13 months of incarceration.

It’s a classic David vs Goliath story.

Two twenty-somethings versus the might of the Indian State.

After a little bit of sloganeering and singing after stepping out of the prison, Natasha and Devangana interacted with the media. Only a few TV channels interviewed them, the one with Rajdeep Sardesai stood out.

The 15 minutes they were on the screen told us a lot about them.

They were not the Angry Young Women they were expected to be.

They were laughing away.

They did not look bitter.

They didn’t shout threats.

They didn’t shout threats.

They didn’t preach.

One of them loves fish curry and didn’t get it the entire year.

Their demeanor was endearing.

They were anything but the terrorists they are made out to be by the Narendra Modi govt.

They were the girls next door.

Natasha and Devangana are the Deepti Navals of activism. 

That is why such interviews trouble the middle class. Most turn their faces away from the screen.  They don’t want to face the truth.

It could well be one of theirs tomorrow.

They got a taste during the farmer toolkit controversy when Disha Ravi was arrested for alleged sedition after she shared a tweet or what was it. Sedition, mind you, nothing less.

In our days college students would do a few uthak-baithaks in the police station if they were picked up for holding protests. Natasha and Devangana spent a year in jail and could face many more for doing that.

Kesavan Mamas, remember this when you go to sleep every night.

JNU under attack

Faiz Ahmad Faiz haazir ho

Jasoos Narayanan Kutty has scooped the report of the investigation committee that probed whether Faiz’s poem Hum Dekhenge is anti-Hindu. Excerpts from the report are given below.

Translation of Faiz’s lines under investigation

From the House of God
Every idol will be removed
We, the pure, the faithful
Who were barred from His house
Will be made kings
Their crowns will be flung in the air
And thrones will be smashed
We shall bear witness

Critical analysis by investigation committee

From the House of God
Was it vaastu compliant?
Since the poem was written in Pakistan, chances are it didn’t follow any features prescribed by vaastu shastra for a healthy and meaningful life.

Every idol will be removed
What is the reference?
Is Faiz alluding to ordinary idols like Narendra Modi, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan? The verse per se doesn’t elaborate. The poet has mischievously left it open-ended. He could well be referring to a ruler, but it can’t also be ruled out he might be referring to Ram or Durga for that matter.         

We, the pure, the faithful
Who are ‘we’?
Does ‘we’ indicate the people or believers of a particular faith?

Who were barred from His house
OK, someone closed a door on someone. That doesn’t mean we write a poem on that. Free speech my foot.

Will be made kings
Even harbouring such thoughts of becoming a monarch goes against the very foundation of our Constitution - that is democracy, equality, liberty. Totally not done.

Their crowns will be flung in the air
If their crowns are flung in the air, does it mean the new ruler will have to buy a new crown. If that is so, who pays for it? Wasteful expenditure, recommend a CAG audit of the poem.

And thrones will be smashed
Again totally unnecessary. If it’s a functional throne, why smash it? All this smells very fishy, like a scam in the making. Dal mein kuch kala hai.       

We shall bear witness
And do nothing? These people are material witness to destruction of public property and the poet is asking them to stay silent and - even more shameful - support the criminal act. That amounts to conspiracy and tampering with evidence. A notice should be issued to Faiz to recover the cost of crown and throne if and when they are thrown and smashed.

Conclusion
The police have not been able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the poem ‘Hum Dekhenge’ by Faiz Ahmed Faiz is against Hinduism, and by extension, India. But some logical reasoning by this committee has proved beyond reasonable doubt Faiz’s intentions were suspicious. There are many gaping holes in the poem which leave it to interpretation. The committee hereby decides to summon Faiz for questioning. It may be noted this is India, and the poet can’t plead the Fifth Amendment if he chooses to depose before the committee.

Five Reasons Why PM Modi's CAA Helps Economy

The popular perception is that the Narendra Modi govt has amended the citizenship law to keep illegal Muslim migrants out. This will polarise the society further and lead to more consolidation of Hindus, enabling a bigger victory in 2024. Abki baar, chaar so paar.

All that might be true, but that will only be a side effect. There must be a bigger picture, the jasoos in me thought. A visionary like Narendra Modi wouldn't do something that affects the lives of 135 crore people for a few handful of votes. Not unless it is in some way for the welfare of the 135 crore people.

This got me thinking. My week-long study of classified documents and interactions with the most powerful people who oil the wheels of the govt have led me to some startling revelations. Here is the gist of my research.

1. National security

India's security forces, especially the state police, hardly have any work or rather hardly do any work. Most are pot-bellied, though they would like us to believe it is some special muscle they have developed over the years by consuming high-protein diet that incidentally comes wrapped in fat. A little bit of action like a lathicharge will do them no harm. Many of them have no shooting practice. Mob violence gives the police a chance to practise what they learnt in the classrooms. Days or months after the protests die down, the Indian police force will be vastly improved and fighting fit.

2. Pakodanomics

The security angle is happenstance. More important is the effect these protests have on the economy. Everyone knows we are following the award winning economic theory called Pakodanomics. As has been explained in these pages earlier, pakodanomics has led to serious imbalance between supply and demand. Every economist on the planet agrees consumption is at the lowest in India in decades. What it means is we have too many people making pakodas and too few eating the pakodas that are getting made. The protests provide a unique opportunity for pakoda sellers, they are getting a ready-made market. Needless to say pakodas are selling like hot cakes in Shaheen Bagh, India Gate, Azad Maidan, Marine Drive, etc.

Consumption slump is a thing of the past, now please don't say we don't have enough supply. The govt can only solve one problem at a time.

3. Oil and gas 

Arvind Subramanian is a smart ass. He spent years as chief economic advisor to the finance minister but never made any public comment against any policy against demonetization. Instead he stayed under the radar collecting data for his research for the next 10 years. Economists like him point to the reduction in fuel consumption to prove there is a slowdown. That is not a big issue at all. Today I took 40 minutes to cover 3 km in my car. Imagine millions of cars stuck in traffic jams caused by anti-CAA protests. Fuel consumption jumps, oil firms profit, consumption all around. Everybody is a winner. 

4. Stimulus

The protests and the crackdown create a sort of stimulus for the economy. The pharma sector gets a big boost. Just imagine the business hospitals are doing now with all the injured flocking there. A bandage here, a surgery there sends the hospital cash registers ringing.

I admit the country's telecom sector is facing a serious crisis. A couple of companies may shut down,  a few thousand people may lose their jobs, but the govt is on the job. It will certainly find a way to use the protests to aid the ailing telcos.

You don't believe me, just look at the Sensex. It is above 41,000 points. They know their business. There can be no better proof.

Postscript: This is a study in progress. If you know Reason No. 5, please do share.

Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act Protests Escalate Across India

Citizenship Law Rewritten, Right to Equality Redefined

A Malayalee Hindu’s Confession on Citizenship Bill

The Citizenship Amendment Bill is now law. Many of my colleagues on twitter say they feel sad, scared, angry, disappointed. I feel no such emotion.

And why should I? It doesn’t affect me. I am a Hindu. I don't know why Muslims are upset. They are not losing citizenship or anything.

And these protests in the Northeast! To be honest, where is the Northeast? It seems somewhere back of the beyond. I have never been there. I don’t see the region becoming a job hub in the foreseeable future. If and when I go, it will be as a tourist. I will click a few photos to keep at home, a reminder of a good trip.

To be honest I don’t know how many states are there in the Northeast. That would be an exaggeration, there are Seven Sisters. Is Sikkim one of the sisters or a distant cousin or neither? I don’t know.

I learnt the capitals of the seven states to score marks in GK. That done, I readily forgot them the moment I passed out.   

I mean who cares about the Northeast? If it wasn’t for the blank cheque, err passport, for illegal Hindu immigrants and a babaji ka thullu, isn’t that what Kapil Sharma says, for illegal Muslim immigrants, we wouldn’t be wasting any airtime or ink on the Northeast.
You don’t believe me?

Manipur was blockaded for nearly 5 months - that is almost half the year - a couple of years ago. Did anyone notice it? Did anyone cover the news?

Irom Sharmila, a resident of Manipur, was on a hunger strike for 16 years demanding removal of AFSPA. Hardly anyone noticed. AFSPA is still in force in Manipur. Irom just gave up her fight and got married. Her wedding made more headlines than the fast. BTW, she also lost an election somewhere in between. It would be wrong to say nothing fruitful came out of Irom’s hunger strike. A few people wrote her biographies and she got the title ‘Iron Lady’.

This is how much we Indians care for the Northeast.

I don’t know much about CAB, but what I know is it was in the BJP’s manifesto and the party swept the Northeast. It means the people of the region want the law, right? I may be wrong, but I have already admitted I give a damn about the place.

That is not to say I am a heartless soul. I have deep affection for people and things Northeastern. Just like I relish Hyderabadi biryani and mutton kababs, I like momos and red chutney. They are good touchings for rum. Not to speak of the people. They make for wonderful drinking buddies.

Now you know why I don’t feel sad, scared, angry or disappointed over the citizenship bill.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has mastered one trick. Us versus them. And this ‘us’ is always a lot more significant in numbers than the ‘them’.

At some point, the party’s gaze will turn to Kerala. It fits the bill. Small state. Sizeable Muslim population. Just 20 Lok Sabha seats which the party anyway doesn’t win. It could come in the form of a countrywide beef ban for example. Us versus them.

That is when I will feel sad, scared, angry, disappointed.

Demonetisation of Bharat Ratna

Every time a Bharat Ratna is announced, the first thing a journalist does is look at the winner’s caste, religion, state, mother tongue, etc to decipher the logic behind the honour.

So when Pranab Mukherjee wins it, it is an outreach to Bengal, an insult to the Congress, which apparently didn’t do justice to his talent and a reward for visiting the RSS headquarters.

The ratna to Bhupen Hazarika is an outreach to the Northeast, the one to Sachin Tendulkar is to win the support of the youth, the honour for Lata Mangeshkar is well, how can anyone say no to Lata tai?

The point is Bharat Ratna has been devalued beyond repair. It is not anymore an award to honour builders of modern India.

So we have given Bharat Ratna to Lata Mangeshkar for singing songs, thousands of them. Her songs entertained us, no doubt.

Her songs made us happy or sad, philosophic or patriotic, depending on our varying moods. If she wasn’t there, Suman Kalyanpur would have done that, or someone else. May be Asha Bhonsle.

Sachin Tendulkar got a Bharat Ratna for scoring centuries, exactly 100 of them. He also entertained us. If he didn’t play cricket, we would have had some other cricketer as our icon.

The country honoured a few classical musicians as well. One of them apparently put pressure on the govt, another got it because he was senior and more accomplished than the earlier winner.
Now there is another fad.

My freedom fighter vs your freedom fighter. So we are looking up history books to confer awards on heroes of the independence movement.

After Madan Mohan Malviya, we will be giving one to Veer Savarkar soon. One day I hope one of my great grandfathers also gets one. A Bharat Ratna in the showcase is always a matter of pride.

Ask why Verghese Kurien and E Sreedharan haven’t got it yet. They are nation builders, not entertainers or freedom fighters. We are sticklers for standards.

Lok Sabha passes 30 Bills in 2 weeks

Wholesale Defections to BJP

EC clean chit to Modi, Shah

7 reasons why I idolise Modi

PM Narendra Modi goes to the jungle when he wants to introspect or contemplate big issues of life like how to eat the mango. Who take so much trouble - taking a bus to the jungle, staying there for a whole week, drinking a cup of tea and waiting for nirvana to happen. I just go to the balcony and take a bottle of Jawan rum with me. I just had two double large and it got me thinking. Why am I a Modi fan? Since I am still high as I put it on paper, I will be brutally honest.

1. Modi an inspiration for the average student

Modi comes from a humble background. You will say Manmohan too was a poor chap, a victim of partition who rebuilt his life, secured a doctorate in economics from Cambridge or Oxford or wherever, headed the central bank of India and went on to become the Prime Minister. That is the difference. Modi did none of that and yet became the Prime Minister. He is an inspiration for the millions of average students like us who have grown up suffering lectures from our parents on the importance of studies. ‘Learn English and maths and you are through,’ was the common refrain. Now we know all that was not needed. If I may say, Modi is the Bill Gates of politics. 

2. Muslims have been shown their place

I ask those lecturing about secularism why should I bother about Muslims. I hardly meet any in the offices I work or where I live. I hear their population is rising. Whatsapp tells me they are always plotting something or the other. The Modi govt has shown them their place, and it doesn’t add to much. No more minority vote bank deciding who rules India. Before you accuse me of Islamophobia, let me make it clear I like the biryanis, kababs, haleem and mutton barra they make.

3. The myth of saffron terror 

Hindus don’t commit acts of terror. They only lynch or murder. Terrorism is the sole preserve of Muslims. You doubt me? Look around the globe. The US, Europe, Sri Lanka… A few people argue Muslims are the largest victims of terrorism, that ISIS has killed thousands of Muslims. That is their problem, not mine.

4. Pakistan

We Indians had so many kings and emperors in the past. Do you remember any of them for the work they did? For example do you know India was the richest country in the world under Akbar the Great. Do you talk about the religious tolerance in his kingdom. No. What you remember is the wars he waged, and ones we want to believe he lost. Even the world wars, what we know is who won, who lost, not the number of dead or the nuclear bombing or the misery the war unleashed on millions of people. Everybody loves a war. Modi promises one every now and then against an enemy who keeps needling us.

5. General knowledge

For us in school, social studies, for that matter any subject, was boring. Modi has made them exciting. Now we merrily discuss how Jawaharlal Nehru, that scoundrel of the highest order, backstabbed Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi, all in one go. The study of history was never as thrilling as it is now. Forget that, we on social media now discuss the Aryan migration theory vs Aryan invasion theory vs the export of vedas theory. Had Sonia Gandhi been the PM, we would have been taking down pizza recipes from Internet.

6. Entertainment 

Modi gives us tax-free entertainment. No need to get into a car, go to the multiplex, book tickets for hundreds of rupees, needlessly munch butter-soaked popcorn. Now we eat home-made pakodas with chai while watching Rockstar Modi live on TV from wherever he is. There are times I get so thrilled by the stunts, I start shouting ‘Modi, Modi’.

7. Modi speaks our language 

Manmohan Singh, though from a humble background, spoke like an intellectual. He will talk about fiscal deficit, current account deficit, mortgage crisis, in a language ordinary people can’t use or understand. May be he did it on purpose so that Rahul Gandhi doesn’t understand either. Modi is not like that. What he wants he says upfront. He cracks jokes, which many find distasteful. See every joke comes at someone’s expense, sometimes at autistic kids’, other times at women’s. But that is how we people talk. The only thing Modi hasn’t said and the only joke he hasn’t cracked is the MC-BC variety we use liberally. Modi is one among us.

My third double large down, I feel like Karan Johar after his toast. I am going to take the fourth one now.

Lessons from Sadhvi Pragya

Modi is Douglas Jardine and Bradman rolled into one

Elections are to Narendra Modi what runs were to Sir Donald Bradman. Except, cricket was a gentleman’s game then, and there was never anything gentlemanly about politics.

Modi will do anything to win elections. He will stand tall one second, he will stoop low the next.

The airstrike on Balakot marked a big shift in India’s strategy in the fight against terror and its chief sponsor Pakistan. For the first time Indian Air Force jets crossed the line of control since 1971. But for the BJP, it wasn’t good enough. They needed to a put number to the kill, a number good enough for their 56 chaathi leader. So they said 300 terrorists killed, though the govt officially never mentioned it.

That is Modi’s style. Now endless memes and fake news videos will be circulated in the most effective election tools of our age, that is Whatsapp and Facebook.
And people generally believe whatever they get on whatsapp. 2019 could well be an election which will be decided by fake news and innuendos.

That much is evident from Modi’s statements since the air raid. He is already asking people ‘are you with us or them’, bracketing the opposition with terrorists. No one has done this before, probably no one will do later.

The opposition’s challenge is to find a leader who can pay Modi back in the same coin. Someone who can be as mean, as arrogant, as angry, and at times as witty as Modi. And that somebody must speak Hindi. Hindi heartland is where the BJP needs to be defeated if opposition fancies any chance of winning power.

What are their options then?

Nitish Kumar was a good bet, but he chose to sleep with the enemy.

Lalu Yadav could have done it, but he is in jail.

Akhilesh Yadav has the ability, but his popularity is restricted to UP.

Kanhaiya Kumar can do it, but he is in the wrong party, and lacks stature.

You are left with Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul has many strengths. He appears sincere, has a boyish charm. He has his weaknesses too. He can’t be mean even if he wanted to. He can’t be witty, that doesn’t come naturally to him.

They are left with one person who could do the job. Priyanka Vadra. For some strange reason the Congress has restricted her to some 35 seats in UP, where they in any case don’t stand a chance to win much. Any gain the Congress makes there will only weaken the SP-BSP and help the BJP. The party is saving its brahmastra for bigger battles ahead which makes one wonder what can be a bigger fight than the Lok Sabha election.

Like I said, votes are to Modi, what runs were to Bradman.

Modi however is more than that. He doesn’t play by the rules. Modi wants to make the 2019 elections presidential. He is telling the voter, it is either me or that dimwit Rahul. To hammer this message, he can go to any extent. He will call Rahul mentally retarded, that is what he meant when he called his rival dyslexic, pardon his ignorance and insensitivity. He will call Rahul anti-national, don’t be surprised if one of these days he calls him a terrorist as well.

Whatsapp and social media have made politics as thrilling as a Twenty20 match. And just like we appreciate Virat Kohli giving it back to the Aussies, society as a whole, especially middle class, like the crass sledging Modi and his teammates indulge in.

Modi is ready to play dirty to win a match, whether it is underarm bowling or bodyline bowling. Modi is Douglas Jardine and Bradman rolled into one. Now that is a combo hard to match, tough to beat.

BJP loses Hindi heartland, Modi & Co brainstorm

Red alert: Pinarayi Vijayan is giving BJP a free pass into Kerala

A few months ago the BJP led a march from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram. Amit Shah himself came for the padyatra but was shocked to see the lukewarm interest shown by the public. Today thousands are marching under the banner of Save Sabarimala yatra spearheaded by the BJP state president Sreedharan Pillai. And there lies the failure of the Congress and the CPM.

Just think of it. The BJP was, in a way, instrumental in getting women entry into the temple. They needed to show they were fair, especially at a time when they were pushing for laws to ban triple talaq, obviously targeted at the Muslims. Tripti Desai was backed to the hilt by the RSS and the BJP which helped women get entry into the Shani temple in Maharashtra. She also had to take a stand on Sabarimala.

Once the Supreme Court gave its verdict allowing women of all ages entry into Sabarimala, the BJP acted shrewdly. They have conveniently taken a U-turn in Kerala and launched a movement against women’s entry into Sabarimala, while the central leadership has sealed its lips. Whatever else, the BJP has shown they are very good at politics.

Now look at the Congress. They always backed the temple traditions. While in power, the party filed affidavits against breaking the tradition. And now in the opposition, it was caught off-guard, letting the BJP walk away with all the credit for protests.

Now come to the Hindu party of Kerala - the CPM. Its vote bank is essentially the backward castes and a little bit of upper castes, Christians and Muslims thrown in. The Left govt in the state is entrusted with implementing the Supreme Court order. But the party did read the pitch wrong. It is one thing to be progressive, but it is another thing to be blind to the mood on the ground. The turnout in the CPM bastion of Kannur for instance was quite big, enough to make heads turn. By the time the party thought of seeking talks with the protesters, it was too late.

The Kerala CPM, which is pragmatic in its economics, was found to be naive in its politics. One way to blunt religious fervour is to play on other divides like caste, gender. So far it hasn’t worked.

The Sabarimala protests give the BJP a glimmer of hope in Kerala. Almost every Hindu in the state worships Ayyappan. In Sabarimala, the BJP has found a Mandir issue tailor-made for the state. For that the BJP has to be thankful to the CPM.

Day in and day out, CPM’s social media is mocking, taunting believers. The cadres must understand they are not in a school debate, but in the actual business of winning and keeping votes. You don’t win friends by ridiculing them.

So what is it that drives Pinarayi Vijayan? Why didn’t he make any effort to pacify the devotees? Is it out of conviction or arrogance? If it is out of commitment to liberal values, to gender equality, he is a true icon. But if it is pure arrogance, he might be presiding over an irreversible decline of the CPM. Just remember Bengal every now and then.

The flood fighting hero has become the ‘Hindu hating’ villain, at least in perception. Three months is a long time in politics, Pinarayi Vijayan would have learnt by now.

Also read:
1) SC has got its Sabarimala ruling wrong, horribly wrong

2) In love with Ayyappan: The forgotten story of Leela

If Hedgewar was a great son of Mother India, who was Gandhi?

Last week I was having beer with a few friends. At some point we decided to go to Haridwar. I was bored of drinking at home, wanted to drink in a new setting. Of course I wanted to take a dip in Ganga to absolve myself of all sins that I had committed till then, so that I could start committing new sins.

The point is there was a purpose to that trip. We do things purposefully, even if we don’t acknowledge it. Now what inspired former president Pranab Mukherjee to fly down to Nagpur and attend the RSS convocation ceremony?

There could be many reasons.

Mukherjee says dialogue is the essence of democracy. One should keep the dialogue on. So he wants to have a dialogue with an organisation which couldn’t tolerate a nuanced homage to Muhammed Ali Jinnah by L.K. Advani in Pakistan.

Advani had said, “His (Jinnah’s) address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947, is really a classic, a forceful espousal of a secular state in which, while every citizen would be free to practise his own religion, the state shall make no distinction between one citizen and another on grounds of faith.”

The RSS cracked down on Advani and later Jaswant Singh who wrote a book on Jinnah. This is their level of intolerance and Mukherjee wants us to believe he wanted to have a dialogue with the RSS.

Mukherjee probably rates his oratorical skills very highly. He may have thought he can reform, if not the Sangh leadership, the fresh graduates and make them give up their Hindu rashtra dreams. He is probably reassured by the successes he had while playing the role of mediator for the UPA. He had handled Anna Hazare so well his prodigy ended up becoming the CM; he neutralised Ramdev, who became a business tycoon, if not for Pranab the yoga guru could have become the UP CM for all you know.

Don’t let the Pranabda fan club in the media mislead you. Mukherjee didn’t go to the lion’s den and take the bull by its horns.

The speech in itself was mediocre. It could have been any of the speeches he made as President of India after Narendra Modi came to power. He just toned it down a bit, edited out references to gau raksha, lynchings, bigotry. In its place he copied a few lines from his other speeches about the 5,000 year old Indian civilisation, the sone ki chidiya that India was, the glory of Nalanda, all that are music to RSS ears. A Sangh spokesperson on TV channels said as much -- he said pretty much what we say. 

Mukherjee quoted Jawahar Lal Nehru from his book Discovery of India, but made only a passing reference to Gandhi. He said, “As Gandhiji explained Indian nationalism was not exclusive, nor aggressive, nor destructive.” Just one line on the Father of the Nation who spearheaded a freedom struggle that was boycotted by the RSS. Gandhi who lost his life to the ideology of RSS almost became a footnote in his speech, though it appeared in the middle somewhere.

The real news came a few hours before the speech. From the memorial of RSS founder K.B. Hedgewar. There Mukherjee noted in the visitors’ log, “Today I came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of Mother India.” Anyone who reads it would think Hedgewar was some big hero who was denied his due by a repressionist regime for decades.

You could argue there is no need to read much into it. It was just an old man writing something about a dead man because he had to do write something. Journalists quoted ‘sources close to him’ as saying “What does one say of a dead man, especially who has been the Organising Committee Chairman of the AICC Session in 1920?”

Anything. He could have written anything. Mukherjee made a career out of writing convoluted, un-understandable resolutions with sentences so long, one would lose count and sight of the commas and semicolons. Anything Mukherjee writes, there is a method to it.

Arun Shourie very famously described the Modi govt as UPA + cow. Mukherjee’s speech was a bit like that -- RSS minus the bigotry.
So what was the purpose behind the speech?

The only good defence in Mukherjee’s favour I can think of is - he was bored, visited RSS headquarters for some sightseeing and went back after a guided tour.

In describing Hedgewar as a great son of Mother India, Mukherjee came off as an opportunist,  a backstabber and coward.

Rahul playing soft Hindutva, he has no reasons to be ashamed of it

Politics is not for nice people. You may act the simpleton but deep inside, you must have that ruthless streak that makes you do anything to win. Victory at any cost. Modi and Shah know it, they are proud of it, and they are praised for it. When they make derogatory statements, they are lapped up without any question.

Now with Rahul Gandhi, the story is different. He will rehearse every line he says, at times makes a total mess of it, though he does it less these days after taking lessons from me, but he rarely makes casteist or communal comments. For example, he won’t be caught saying ‘Modi is Khilji ka aulad or Modi is Aurangzeb.’ He might say ‘Modi is Mohammed bin Tughlaq’, but that is not a reference to religion but to policies pursued by his rival.

Rahul won’t say ‘neech’, for one probably he doesn’t know the meaning of it, two his speech writer seems to be a decent guy. But Rahul will be hauled over the coals for remarks made by loose cannons like Mani Shankar Aiyar, who does it to his own partymen too. He had once wondered how did Ajay Maken use the word ‘dichotomy’ in his letter to PM Manmohan Singh as he was just a B.A. (Pass) from Hansraj College and couldn’t have had the brains to know the meaning of the word.

And Rahul will definitely not accuse Modi of plotting with Pakistan to win Gujarat elections. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi did just that today. He might do more than that tomorrow. Now get one thing, Modi, when he makes these baseless charges, knows or certainly hopes the Gujarati voter will believe him.

Modi has reasons to think so. Nobody reads Gujarat’s mind like Modi, he has won election after election there. The state has 90% Hindu population, among the highest concentration in the country. They have been fed Hindutva steroids for years now, and many of them can’t live without it. Fifteen years after one of the bloodiest riots broke out in Gujarat, there is still no remorse. In fact the violence is held out as an example to minorities elsewhere in the country.

When a Rahul Gandhi steps out to campaign, he is appealing to this set of voters. Right now they are addicted to Hindutva and de-addiction can’t happen in a day. Merely talking about vikas or development won’t help, like Subramanian Swamy said once. “Even Manmohan gave development, but he lost,” he often says while demanding construction of Ram Mandir.

So when Rahul gives his war cry against a GST or a demonetisation, he may have to make it from the Somnath temple or any other temple he can spot. It definitely can’t come from a masjid.  You can’t annoy a considerable chunk of 90% voters to show solidarity with 10% voters who anyway are voting for you. Rahul Gandhi may be accused of playing soft Hindutva, but in light of recent happenings, he has no reason to be ashamed of it. And mind you, it is not Modi or Rahul who is on test, it is the Gujarati voter who is on test.  

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