Self Destruction

Many humans have demons in their head; real or imaginary. They fight these demons in different ways. Some self-flagellate to punish themselves for some sins, some destroy their relationships or opportunities. There is this true story about a man who had everything a person could ever have. He was a good fighter, had good income, family and fame but his demons turned him in to a monster. Every emotion known to humankind was in abundance in him; love, anger, humour, hate, rage, jealousy, greed, intrigue, revenge, trust, suspicion, self-interest and self-loathing. You name it he had it. You may have heard of “Raging Bull” in reference to stock markets but the original story is of a boxer named Jake La Motta. Jake’s story is not very different from Shakespeare’s Othello. The only difference is that Jake delivered justice to himself inside the ring. He dealt punishment to his wife for his jealousy and suspicions, or to his brother, or to the mafia or he punished himself for his sins.

The movie “Raging Bull” is the story of Jake (Robert De Niro), one of the most extremely self-destructive characters. It is not about boxing and the movie has just about 10 minutes of boxing scenes. But those 10 minutes of boxing are some of the most vicious, graphic and bloodiest scenes ever put on film. And the scenes are not from the spectator’s seat, it is from right inside the ring. Let’s watch a bit (4.30 mins):

During his career and after retirement Jake had lost all his relationships. He had become a pitiful tub of lard and a pathetic stand-up comedian. Yet, by the time the movie ends, one feels a strange sense of sympathy for this vicious character. Sympathy for a loser! Every emotion and intrigue that Jake embodied can also be found in organisations with lots of people in them. In regular business organisations, NGOs, media houses, religious organisations and, most of all, in political parties. Let’s get back home.

The BJP is not exactly Jake La Motta but the party is suffering the consequences of all the negative human emotions of Jake that I listed earlier. Jealousy, intrigue, cunning and much more. At a time when the world’s most corrupt party among democracies should be thrown out the BJP is hell-bent on scoring self-goals. Not a single major event or decision in the party passes without controversy and mud-slinging. All of it cannot be passed under the garb of “we are a democratic” party. This is self-deception in implying democratic parties can never arrive at decisions in a cohesive manner defeats its purpose. To add to this, they have made some atrocious attempts to enrol the scumbags of India like Pramod Muthalik and Sabir Ali. Both had to be thrown out after their cadres and supporters revolted. Neither of these two scumbags would have brought any positive value to the party.

The tragedy is that on a day a video of a guy called Imran Masood (Congress) issuing threats to Modi surfaced the media was compelled to focus more on the comic self-goal of enrolling a character like Sabir Ali. I have to say this and say this bluntly: there are certain very senior leaders in the party who are no different from the pathetic stand-up comic that Jake had become. They are often referred to as “tall leaders” of the party. They may be tall but their height simply cannot be allowed to cloud a common goal of victory. Tall leaders need to demonstrate greatness and not engineer petty squabbles. Imagine, the Congress has been reduced to rubble with only Rahul Gandhi campaigning for them. And all this young child can talk about as solution to the country’s problems is “Love”. What kind of juvenile jerk talks of love and affection to the poor, backward, Tribals and Adivasis who have been deceived for ages by the Congress? In their arrogance the BJP appears to have taken victory for granted because the Congress appears to be losing.

Three months ago four of the current BJP CMs delivered a stinging blow to the Congress in the state elections. It wasn’t very different from the battering Jake delivers to Janiro. He delivers a bloody and brutal knock out. It is the conduct of some of the party’s members that makes people wish there were other options too. Fortunately for them, another juvenile jerk has made a thorough fool of himself with his street antics. We are now into the final phase when elections will commence. Any more bumps are bound to cause severe damage. A huge majority of the nation has backed Narendra Modi for PMship. It is time these sideshow actors in the party openly throw their full weight behind him and avoid any serious accident.

Jake La Motta had lost his title once over his personal demons. The BJP lost power in 2004 out of faulty appeasement policies of ABV and complacency. When he gets a second shot at the title Jake’s demons had grown so huge that he feels the only way to redeem himself is to take a severe pounding and then prove he wasn’t knocked out. There is a lot BJP can learn from him. Not being knocked out is not victory. The party is only one step away from self-destruction should there be another accident. There are BJP leaders who keep making odd statements which seem to originate from a Jake-size ego. There are regulars but even people like Shivraj Chauhan stated yesterday that he wants Modi as PM but Modi can’t work alone. Is there any intelligence in that statement? Why make such dumb statements in the first place?

If the BJP screws up, they will end up like pathetic stand-up comics and would have let down a whole nation waiting in hopes of a change. They should prepare for a 272-knock-out of the CongressPlus and not attempt a 160-points victory. One more major accident is sure to cause serious self-destruction.