The grass is greener on the other side – the other side here, for the Indian National Congress, is being in the opposition.
One of the oldest political parties of the country and the one which actively fought for the country’s freedom have found itself in a fight to stay relevant. At least on social media.
The Congress party, for years, have brewed leaders of varied opinion and voices. Some applaudable, some condemnable and some turn out like Navjot Singh Sidhu’s speech which is primarily a poetry session. If there is one thing that the Congress party never gets tired of, is the act of shouting “Rahul Gandhi for PM”.
When an average Indian, like me, listens to this almost-offensive-slogan, the first thing that comes to his mind is why? Why not me? I can mess up speeches. I often tend to forget things I want to convey. I am also seasoned in under-performing in my profession and I am the most pampered kid in my family. And yet, Why not me for the PM?
The Congress President, apart from his much talked about looks and stupidity, shot to fame after that interview with the self-proclaimed voice of the nation, Arnab Goswami. In that interview, the word which got repeated for n number of times was “women empowerment”. The Congress President even claimed it as the important issue leading up to the 2014 election. We all know how that election turned out for the Congress party but it seems that the interview hasn’t aged well. The Congress Party in Uttar Pradesh reinstated few of their leaders who were earlier suspended for misbehaving with the party spokesperson, Priyanka Chaturvedi. Women Empowerment lesson number one.
Let’s talk more about Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi was a “young’’ leader when Sachin Tendulkar scored his 50th ton and he still remains a “young” leader now, after six years of Sachin’s retirement which came after he scored his 100th ton.
For a party which boasts of being a party of young leaders, it’s commendable that the recently appointed Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are given an opportunity to serve their states at a young age. They both are 72 and 67 years old respectively.
It is really strange to see Congress Party sitting in the opposition. It really is. They have started asking questions! The same questions which were being thrown at them like water balloons by the BJP. They have accused the BJP of corruption in the Rafale deal. Keeping all the seriousness aside, it is basically an act where the former corrupt party is accusing the ruling party of corruption. Seems exactly like a charity run by a man who has a reputation of running his car over needy people.
The good sign, however, is that the Congress has finally realized that corruption is a disease. A disease cursed by everyone, celebrated by everyone and benefited by someone. It is a disease they enjoyed too and continue to enjoy. Thanks to Electoral Bonds. When a bid was being made to make foreign funding to political parties legal, the Congress, the torch bearer of Anti-Corruption movement (Anna Hazare who?), sat silently waiting for the bill to pass. Opposition? Really?
In all seriousness, the funniest thing about this election campaign is the Congress Manifesto. Not because it’s laughable. It is just ironical. They have promised to do remove all those things which they benefited from in the past decades. Example: Sedition
Sedition is an age old colonial law which has been used by every government to harass its citizens. Congress has promised to remove sedition if voted to power which is a big IF. Congress has forgotten Arundhati Roy, the nation’s favourite woman to hate, who was booked for seditious speech under the UPA II government.
This election, I have one request to all of you. If you see the Congress taking a higher moral ground than its opposition in the matters with respect to sedition, the trend of labeling citizens as anti-nationals or the trend of banning movies and books, please do the following:
1. Collect a rupee each from every citizen throughout the Country.
2. Build a giant middle finger statue called the “statue of creativity” right in front of Congress HQ.
If you see BJP doing the same, ask them to get well soon or build a statue of Sambit Patra.
To be honest, I enjoyed the Congress rule. There were scams. There were investigations. There were instances of people in power going to jail. There was a sense of fear in the government. The media was doing its job. Arnab had lower decibel levels. It has all changed now. It seems, all good things will come to an end.