The Bihar (H)itch - Sonia Gandhi: "We'll Scratch & Win"

The severe Bihar (h)itch has finally hit the lady. But wait a minute! “Scratch” is the last thing you want madam. It’s really all the “back scratching” by your cronies, sycophants and the media that has been doing your party in so frequently.  And didn’t you really start from “scratch” this time around too in Bihar? With about 9 seats in the outgoing assembly and the decision to go without alliances, was that not “scratch” enough? The brilliance of the “Cowards of the Congress”  who won’t stop blaming everybody but Sonia and Rahul  has now halved its strength in the Bihar assembly. They are now below the “others” column. (In cricketing terms even the "extras" are bigger)

This blogger has been stating over and over again that both Sonia and Rahul are unique politicians who command exceptional power but have absolutely no “responsibility or accountability”. For the media, to question them is not only indecent but outright blasphemy.  Sonia and Rahul have never heard the line “I accept responsibility for this failure”!! One is the super-PM and the other is supposedly the PM-in-waiting.  And India is the emerging super power. No wait, according to Obama India is already an “emerged power”. And our media simply can’t wait to see Rahul as the PM. And we can’t wait for the silly season to begin.

But here are some gems about Rahul Gandhi:

"His (Rahul Gandhi's) meetings attracted people. He is a leader of national stature," Congress general secretary B.K. Hariprasad said referring to reports on allegations that Gandhi's meetings had failed to make an impact. Allegations?  

Another Congress coward under anonymity states: "We have to admit that Rahul Gandhi failed to attract voters in Bihar". I wonder what is wrong with this guy.  He’s not supposed to say such things. Even the media doesn’t dare say such things. This is blasphemy! (Read Here)

The Congress was not willing to admit that AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi's hectic campaigning had not translated into votes. Party's Bihar in-charge Mukul Wasnik said people, particularly youth, attended Mr. Gandhi's rallies in huge numbers, but they did not necessarily vote for the Congress. “I take responsibility for the party's defeat,” he told journalists on Wednesday, adding that the party would look into the reasons for the debacle. Now that is the correct stand for a true Congressman to take.

TV channels like CNN-IBN and NDTV find it hard to digest that the BJP has won the elections. Their effective contention is that the BJP “piggy-backed” on the Nitish-wave.  Their entire discussion was an indication that the BJP/NDA  did well because Narendra Modi wasn’t allowed to campaign. It is of course a matter of some negligible statistical interest that the BJP actually did better than the JD(U).  BJP won 91 seats of 102 (90%), up from 55 seats in 2005 and JD (U) won 115 of 141 (82%), up from 88 in 2005.

Here’s an intellectual piece on the BJP victory though: Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president, Centre for Policy Research. “The verdict shows that BJP is not one single national party but that credibility has to be built state-by-state. The party is doing well wherever the state level cadre is well attuned with local conditions and circumstances.” The media passes on such muddled crap as intelligent insight, as if local flavour never mattered before in Indian elections. I feel educated now. (Read Here)

But one has to hand it to spin doctor Rajdeep Sardesai. In discussion with Arun Jaitley on CNN-IBN (Nov24) Rajdeep suggested to Jaitley that “regional satraps” are holding sway in BJP. Well, after that bit Rajdeep turns to another participant and states that the new mantra in BJP is “regional satraps”. How clever! Coining his own phrases and mantras and then attributing it to the BJP. When will this mediacrook learn that there are people watching his spin?  In contrast all these channels don’t forget to mention that the Congress keeps failing because they do not posses regional leaders and “parachute” campaigns by Rahul and Sonia isn’t working. It’s the Congress’ own rule : If they win its because of Sonia and Rahul and if they lose its because the state units failed. Wonder where NDTV and CNN-IBN stand between these two realities.

It can safely be said that Sonia is not the only one who’s going to do some scratching. Our TV channels are just as busy scratching their heads over why the NDA, especially the BJP, won. They can join Sonia’s “scratch party” of course.