The Political End Of The Gandhis

There’s something common about all corrupt leaders at the top. They manipulate systems, try and destroy democratic institutions and make every effort to destroy political opponents. They keep it at it till the end is inevitable. The most prominent one is the case of Richard Nixon. He and his loyal foot-soldiers manipulated every institution and destroyed many political opponents to ensure electoral success for his second term. Unfortunately for Nixon he kept tapes of the conversations at his office which eventually caused his downfall. Whenever in trouble, Nixon and his little coterie always managed to “get around” the hurdles. They somehow “managed” it; until the US Supreme Court ordered the tapes be surrendered as evidence. Here’s a little exchange between Alexander Haig (then White House Chief of Staff) and Nixon (from his bio-pic) during the last days of office:

That date being referred to, June 23, 1972, is the date of reports a few days after the Watergate burglary (June 17). The burglary itself didn’t cost Nixon all that much but it led to the discovery of a whole web of corrupt operations. Nixon wasn’t after any personal monetary gain or wealth. Alexander Haig tells him “It’s the SC, you don’t get around it”. In what Robert Vadra calls a “Banana republic” Nixon would have happily continued. In “Banana republics” even SC judges can be bought. You just have to hear Prabhu Chawla in the Radia tapes to understand that. The Congress and Sonia Gandhi have also manipulated and destroyed many democratic institutions. You just have to know the modus operandi. The National Herald scam involving the Gandhis is one such operation. It has even attracted an IT notice for a political party lending money to a commercial business house. There doesn’t seem to be a way to “get around it” as many of the Congress and alliance ministers have “got around it” in the last decade. The question is: why were these people so brazen?

Although they aren’t showing it, it must be the biggest heartache for Congress and their clones to find that the man they wanted to burn in hell is now the PM. It must hurt them that he has outsmarted all of them to secure a clear majority in the elections. Nothing explains how the Congress hoped to come back to power or support a “khichdi govt” formed with its support than Dileep Padgaonkar’s belated confession (Read here). Padgaonkar wrote: “The dread possibility of ‘communal’ forces coming to power, we believed, would override all other concerns of the electorate”. In other words, fear-mongering, fake secularism, Muslim-appeasement and tainting opponents would help the Congress somehow control power at the centre. Media crooks like Padgaonkar, Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Arnab Goswami and Intellectual Morons like Amartya Sen, Ram Guha and others hoped and expected BJP would fail to get a clear majority. Here’s part of the coterie that Sonia Gandhi, Congress and media crooks hoped would see them through:

We all know how Mulayam and Maya were continuously hounded and manipulated through CBI. DMK was a partner in crime. The murderous CPM is an “ideological” spouse of the Congress. The JDU driven by one man’s lust for power that broke up with BJP. The step-child of Congress called the AAP. The NCP that has equal number of scams to its credit. And key media crooks cleverly campaigning for Congress-UPA to return. One can recall Arnab’s non-stop slavery of Priyanka Vadra as if she was the next queen of India. SoniaG and Congress had hoped that somehow these clones would garner enough seats to either support the Congress to form a govt or they would form a govt that also includes AIADMK, TMC, BJD etc which the Congress can prop up from outside to keep the evil “communal forces” out of power. In particular, they hoped that would stop the man they wanted dead from becoming PM.

The Congress knew the tide was against it but it was this hope that they can somehow cobble up a non-BJP govt that fuelled the belief that they can “get around it”. That even if court cases came up against the Gandhis, they would “get around it”. It is this brazenness that led to many scams, including the National Herald one. The magistrate who has summoned the Gandhis and others on August 7 has observed: “It appears that Young India was in fact created as a sham or a cloak to convert public money to personal use or as a special purpose vehicle for acquiring control over Associated Journals Ltd assets worth over Rs 2,000 crore”. The DNA article linked here adds “K Vikram Rao of Indian Federation of Working Journalists states that the alleged misappropriation of Rs 2,000 crore is ' the tip of the iceberg. We are planning to implead ourselves in the petition in the court. It is a huge scandal and needs to be probed by the premier investigators of the country. This scam is bigger than Sahara," said Rao, whose father was the founder editor of Associated Journals in 1938”. 

The case is not going to be concluded anytime soon and will drag on for some years as most Indian cases do. The unfortunate part about that, in this one, is that it may keep the Gandhis embroiled in a legal tangle. Years ago such a case would not have dented the Gandhis too much because of equity the Gandhi name had with people. After all, there are millions who believed these fake Gandhis are somehow related to MKGandhi. But the thrashing they got in the recent elections which resulted in a miserable 44 seats to the Congress is proof that Indians have finally woken up to the fake Gandhis. Time and technology dismantles many myths and lies. Leadership is often tested more in adverse situations than in good ones. Both Sonia and Rahul aren’t really great leaders in the first place. The latter is more a useless burden on the party. SoniaG could claim some credit for restoring the Congress party’s standing after the previous NDA govt but much of her political capital has eroded since then with the corruption taint. The third left-over Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra, has shown immaturity in her political campaigns and other than emotional and childish gibberish had nothing to offer. I therefore believe that this is the end of the Gandhis politically.

Historically, the only thing Congress knew when they were in opposition was how to manipulate, horse-trade, bribe, induce and bring down govts. Every non-Congress govt in our history has been brought down by the Congress except the last term of AB Vajpayee and it is not because Congress did not try. This time, the Congress is in no position to bring down the BJP govt which has a single-party majority. This is something no politician, no pundit and no media crook ever imagined would happen. That is one of SoniaG’s biggest hurdles for a return. In case of Indira Gandhi, the serious cases against her for the Emergency crimes got wiped out because she could bring down what she called the “Khichdi” govt and return to power. The NH case is not going to be wiped out. On the contrary, one can expect more cases to follow and there is every reason why even Robert and Priyanka Vadra may also face court cases for land deals. Also, Subramaniam Swamy who is following the Sunanda Pushkar murder case has alleged that the Kochi IPL scam money belongs to Robert Vadra. Things get even murkier.

They say it’s a serious mistake to write off politicians. Well, I have done that before and I am starting to enjoy it. I predicted in “Reincarnation of Arvind Kejriwal” that he is finished and AK helped himself to doom. AK even insisted on realising his last dream of ending up in jail as that post hoped he wouldn’t. His recent utterances do not indicate he has learned any lessons. AK, of course, has age on his side and can re-invent himself if he so chooses. But SoniaG doesn’t have that advantage. By 2019 SoniaG will be 72 and given Congress claims of her health it is unlikely she will be able to cope with anymore gruelling campaigns. Even in the 2014 LS campaign she had a much restricted campaign and the gaps were made by RahulG and Priyanka Vadra. Rahul and Mrs Vadra filled the gaps quite badly to leave no future expectations from them. A senior Congress leader in Kerala called Rahul a “joker”. Even the family poodle Digvijaya Singh now says RahulG lacks temperament and avoided leadership by not becoming head of the Congress LS group.

The worst truth was to come in the form of a belated confession by AK Antony who said “People have lost faith in the secular credentials of the party. They have a feeling that the Congress bats for a few communities, especially minorities”. The confession is half-hearted. He should have clearly said Congress bats for Muslims and Christians. Sonia’s inner coterie would reflect that kind of batting. The UP results have shown even Muslims aren’t buying the Congress “fake secularism” anymore. All the elderly Congis are suddenly finding the nerve to speak which they couldn’t when they were in power. There is good reason to believe this country has moved on from the dynasty. I see no way that the Gandhis will command the influence they did in the past. They will not disappear but the last elections and current events certainly signal the end of the Gandhis.