Rahul Gandhi - 'Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Loser'

I have often compared Rahul Gandhi to Sarah Palin. During the 2008 US election campaign, out of the blue, a curious third-grader asked VP candidate Palin: “What does a Vice President do?”. Predictably, Palin didn’t know and gave a funnily inaccurate reply. One by one the skeletons of Palin’s ignorance on various issues started tumbling out. She backed it up by silly statements too. Sample this one: “We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans…..”. So, just like Palin discovered two Americas, Rahul Gandhi discovered two Indias. He stated: "There exists two Indias -- one in towns and cities with highrise buildings, computers, cars and modern gadgets, and the other in rural areas still underdeveloped for lack of facilities and opportunities.." So I am naturally tempted to wonder if RG derives some secret inspiration from Palin. The major difference between these two people being that Palin was a relative unknown whereas RG comes from the ‘dynasty’.I also wonder if any college kid ever asked RG what exactly a PM does. It would be interesting to hear his answers.

The media had generously crafted RG as the next PM of India. Poll after questionable poll showed he was way ahead in popularity as the choice for PM. India Today and CNN-IBN, in particular, repeated these polls. And crediting him with revival of Congress in UP, CNN-IBN even bestowed upon him the title ‘Indian of the year’. It wasn’t the fawning media’s support that RG lacked. What comes about repeatedly is that it’s his own lack of vision and skills. In the face of a severe crisis with the Anna fast RG rushed off to Pune to console the farmer families who were victims of police firing. While his thought and sentiment would have been genuine there wasn’t one word to condemn the indiscriminate police firing. Quite understandable, his own party was involved in that crime. Next came his disconnected speech in Parliament on August 26. When a crisis begged for solution RG was propounding theories. That speech was like lecturing people severely hit by drought on the technology and long-term benefits of rain-harvesting. Wrong speech, wrong time. I even doubt if RG wrote it himself.

The media was desperately hoping that RG will finally wave that elusive ‘magic wand’ that the PM often refers to and bring the crisis to an end. Instead, he turned the old saying “Cometh the hour…” on its head. It was now “Cometh the hour, cometh the loser”. RG didn’t deliver anything except a phrase which the media played out over the next two days. He termed his own speech a ‘game-changer’. Tavleen Singh wrote: “This was his second chance to lead. Instead, he read out a speech so filled with banalities it could have been written by a political science professor. Whispers of ‘Pappu fail ho gaya,’ filtered out of the chambers of Parliament afterwards but the truth is that Rahul could not have done better.”

These are not particularly good times for Rahul Gandhi. His mother is down with illness and civil society activists are up against the Congress on corruption. His Congress cheerleaders were just the other day suggesting he was ready to become PM. His sycophant, Digvijay Singh, was the most vocal among them. His cheerleaders in the media were supporting that belief. If not publicly at least privately many in the Congress may now be acknowledging RG is not PM material. Many in the public already know that. The media never reported the slogans being chanted against RG and others outside Tihar jail during Anna’s detention. The media never posed serious questions to or about him. The media refused to analyse the man properly. And just like the third-grader’s question to Palin, the most probing questions to RG came from university students. But what the media and politicians may not reveal eventually comes out through social networks and that latest enemy of politicians called Wikileaks.

A Wikileaks cable credits noted journalist and Gandhi family friend Saeed Naqvi thus: “Naqvi claimed that it is increasingly common knowledge that Rahul suffers from ""personality problems"" of an emotional or psychological nature that are severe enough to prevent him from functioning as PM.” Psychological problems, really? A few weeks back I wrote the post titled ‘Rahul & Digvijay - The Narcissist& The Sycophant’. A dynastic heir is always tempted to have darbaris and sycophants surround him. This is the problem with RG. He needs to have people around him that will tell him a few blunt truths. His speech writers seem to further remove him from the truths and context of situations. These are the bad choices that RG makes that renders him unfit for bigger leadership roles, like that of a PM.

In other reports from Wikileaks the headlines read “Rahul proposed NREGS for Afghanistan, Assam model for Palestine”. Nobody seems to have had the wisdom to warn RG that NREGA is failing in India and currently the govt itself is considering closure of the scheme. And Palestine? Well seriously, if RG can advise on Palestine I can any day give a 3 hour lecture on the mating habits of insects.

And we now have a term that describes his coterie well – ‘Rahul Brigade’. You can usually find them sitting next to him. The Scindias and the Prasadas. This snippet from the Sunday Guardian makes an interesting observation: “Rahul brigade wanted TV muzzled… Ambika Soni came under attack from the Rahul brigade for failing to muzzle the television channels that were reporting on Anna Hazare's fast. When some of Rahul's associates asked Soni why she was letting the TV channels have a field day supporting the Anna movement, she told them that she could not do anything as they were independent. Soni was under pressure to speak to the owners of the TV channels. Soni is also in the firing line of AICC leaders for allowing three pro-BJP TV journalists join the Accreditation Committee. Deepak Chaurasia, Navika Kumar and Bhupendra Chaubey are known for their proximity to the BJP. Navika Kumar is supposedly close to P. Chidambaram as well, on whose recommendation she is said to have been taken on the panel.” 

Well, well that brings the media to a full circle. For years now the servantile media that has carefully crafted RG’s image as a ‘youth icon’ now had to be forced to move elsewhere to cover some ‘real’ events. The crowds were unstoppable and the drama impossible not to cover. As much as RG needs to learn, media outlets like NDTV, CNN-IBN and their partners also need to learn that even electronic sycophancy will not help to cover up the truth. The Congress tried everything, even getting someone like Imam Bukhari to announce muslims are against the Anna movement. They even tried the anti-dalit card. Nothing worked. Regardless of the merits of the movement the Congress proved rudderless and leaderless.

It’s not over yet. Post the agitation the Congress is now on a witch-hunt. Privilege and IT notices have been served to Team Anna members. ED is making vague statements against Ramdev. And RG’s mentor Digvijay is on the loose again making communal and foolish statements. This is one more chance for RG. He can step up even now and put a stop to the witch hunt and set the national debate on a different course. But will he? Does he have what it takes? He once again has the chance to show he can be a statesman. Will he? I seriously doubt, because I haven’t seen anything of a leader or statesman in him.

Even as this is being written, his cronies have made an extra-ordinary statement. “The Anna Hazare movement is not really against corruption. It is not even against the Congress. It is aimed at undermining Rahul Gandhi’s growing youth base, a Congress party office-bearer has alleged.” as reported by DNA newspaper. There maybe two Indias but there is only one Rahul Gandhi. He epitomises the new idiom I thought I’d never hear – Cometh the hour, cometh the loser..”

Zia Haq of Hindustan Times, Is Christmas Evil ?

Zia Haq is an Assistant Editor at Hindustan Times. Some of Zia Haq’s recent articles on his blog at Hindustan Times lament discrimination against muslims. These are 'I can't go to the US, My name is Haq' and 'Rahul Gandhi punished for plain speaking'. This is my response to him and I start with the latest of the two posts..

This is what he wrote: “Imagine. If a politician and a foreign diplomat on a flight were to discuss terror, without anyone hearing them, and the politician does some plain-speaking in the process, is it treachery? Obviously not, unless the diplomat had other intentions.”  Oh really? I am no politician or diplomat or even a professional journalist, but usually tips and insights into a person’s thinking come from casual conversations. In this case a US diplomat was picking into the insight and views of a person who could well be PM one day and his beliefs could well dictate policies of this nation. You’re a journalist! Don’t you as a routine practice pick up tips and information on behind-the-scenes goings-on from such casual conversations? Rahul Gandhi’s utterances are not treachery by any means and no one is calling it that. It is just one more of his stupid utterances in a very long list. If Rahul Gandhi really means what he says without political motives ask him to stand up in a debate and tackle the issues. Do you think he is capable of that?

To all the other things you have written let me respond in general. If indeed the RSS is the equivalent of SIMI and other organisations such as VHP, Bajrang Dal etc. pose a terror threat then let the UPA show the courage to ban them just like they have banned SIMI. Also, I am all for a ban on an outfit like Shiv Sena, a party that routinely disrupts life and creates nuisance for ordinary citizens. I am also for a ban on any party that moralises people on Valentines Day, that protests books on Shivaji. I am also for a ban on Ram Sene and the like that tell women where they should go and not. Especially, when any violence is involved.  I am also for a ban on the Deoband Muslim organisation that tells women jeans are bad and what clothing is pious or lectures on the choices of contraceptives. Will you support all these bans? Let these organisations be banned and let them rush to the courts. Let the courts decide if the bans are justified and fair. Mind you, it is not as if the RSS has not been banned before with the courts having overturned such bans.

Don’t fool yourself and others by lamenting that only muslims are painted as terrorists. If you still can’t see why, then your journalistic eyes are truly blinded.  The Islamic Terror attacks and the muslims who commit them swear by their religious scripts and such violence is routinely encouraged by many Imams across the world. Do you want proof of this? Furthermore, it is an established fact that muslims owe their allegiance first and foremost to their religion, their Ummah and not to the nation they are citizens of. Indian muslims, by difference, are not immigrants and are historically people of the soil. I will happily say that most Indian muslims are not terrorists. Those who are, are just a handful of them. Are you expecting terrorists in any society to be a huge majority in any community? Then the closest examples you can find any day of such a society is Pakistan which kills minorities everyday, or Iraq or Iran or Egypt.  

By bringing up the terrorist angle to these arguments you are conveniently overlooking a very disturbing fact and truth that Muslims have become, or traditionally were, the most intolerant of other religions and other communities. Here is Christmas celebration for you from the Daily Mail.

Can you explain that? Or once again these are people who are not muslims? Or once again these are people who have 'hijacked' or 'misunderstood' Islam?  Mind you, Tower Hamlets is one place in London where the head of the local council is Lutfur Rehman, a muslim. Although he denounces the poster, can we really believe this could have happened anywhere else?  Do you see violence on the streets of Britain because of the poster? You might well say ‘oh that’s in Britain, it’s got nothing to do with India or Indian muslims’. If that would be an argument, can one explain violence and deaths over the Danish cartoons? There is a minister in UP who declared an award for the head of the Danish cartoonist. Can you explain why this man who incited a criminal act is not in jail? Can you explain the violence in India by muslim protestors over the US invading Iraq? Protests one can understand, but violence? Whatever the cause of terrorism, religious terrorism is the outcome of religious intolerance. And intolerance is not just in terms of violence, it comes in many other forms too. Can you imagine the consequences across the world and in India too, if such a poster were to appear about Idd? Can you honestly answer that question?

In your post on being denied a US Visa you have complained about being singled out. Can you explain how and when travellers from across the globe had to start to go through severe security checks, have to reach airports hours and hours before their flight, have to remove even shoes and clothing, have to go through body pat-downs? Can you name one Imam who has condemned terror acts by Islamic terrorists? If you can, I will send you a list of 5 for each Imam you name who have actively encouraged Jihad attacks. You’re not being singled out to deny a US Visa. It is called ‘profiling’. The Hindu points out more such cases in your defence. And what is wrong with that? Should the world continuously risk threats, intolerance, inflammatory speeches because democracies provide that freedom? Recently, a flight had to be aborted because a muslim wanted to do prayers in the aisle. Can you assure me no muslim would do that? Will you do such a thing? How many Hindu shoe bombers have been arrested? Have many Hindu Major Nidals (of the Fort Hood massacre) have been found?

Here is another challenge to Zia Haq : Can you explain or justify the brutal killing of Theo Van Gogh? Would you like to debate or argue with Geert Wilders when he equates Mein Kampf with the Koran? If not, don't defend Rahul Gandhi's equation of RSS with SIMI by any yardstick.

Given that you’re a journalist, you may not be blind to the many emails and websites that Islamic terrorists have offered all of us. How many such sites and emails by Hindu or Buddhist or Christian terrorists can you point out to me? How many such emails or sites that threaten India or any other country or community can you point out by the RSS, VHP, or any such outfit? Do you have a record of all the statements or utterances of Hindu leaders or organisations which have condoned the attacks at Malegaon or Ajmer or any other places which have suffered terrorist attacks?

Most journalists confuse issues of terrorism by merely citing what the BJP or the Congress is saying. They, like politicians, have lost touch with ordinary citizens. The media may have its reasons to indulge in political correctness, but citizens do not. One can judiciously call terror as ‘religious’ terror if and only if its religious scriptures or its religious leaders are actively promoting, encouraging and applauding terror.

There are endless number of muslim Imams and political leaders who encourage and applaud terror. The terrorists themselves quote religious scriptures. Pray, tell me what Hindu scripture, Hindu leader or Hindu doctrine encourages such violence. If you find one, I will be the first one to support destroying that scripture and putting that religious leader in Jail. Can  you do the same for muslims, Mr. Zia Haq? That is where Rahul Gandhi is wrong, both in his utterances and his idiotic diplomacy.

Merry Christmas To You !

Rahul Gandhi & Lipstick On a Pig !

“We deal with deception here. What we do not deal with is self-deception”. That piece of Freudian advice for Rahul Gandhi comes from the Martin Scorsese movie ‘The Departed’. And if he doesn’t learn and show maturity soon, he will join the ‘the departed’ in political terms, alongside his tutor Digvijay Singh.

As a fresh entrant Rahul came in with an enthusiasm and a claim for party democracy and cleanliness in politics. One can forgive him for being ignorant about the Congress (I) itself and about India as a whole. In the quest to prove himself,  his journey in politics has been from one stupid station to another. On the way he had to pick up a guru, someone like Digivijay Singh, a political has-been. Cuddled and adored by an ass-licking media Rahul could hardly understand his own ignorance of the country and the issues facing it. The more they covered him the more they led him to believe that he is true deliverance for this nation. He started believing his own lies and unfortunate utterances. His self-deception did not allow him to introspect or to understand that he was already talking like his has-been mentor, Digvijay. 

To compound his self-deception, CNN-IBN crowns him ‘Indian of the year’ for the supposed Congress turnaround in UP. This might sound like the Congress won a thumping majority in UP. No, that’s not the case. This must have further cemented his belief that he was some ‘prince-charming’ soon to be emperor. Given that on any clear or dark day the Congress is a party of sycophants it makes it that much harder for Rahul to hear the truth from any quarter. Not even the media will tell him. It took Wikileaks to call the 'emperor's new clothes'!                                                                                                                          

The recent Bihar elections brought his world crashing down. Defeat apart, his strategy that was supposed to have energised the Congress in UP had halved the number of seats in the Bihar assembly. Not even worthy of being a recognised Opposition party. Does he take any responsibility? No! His Congress goons and sycophants cover up for him yet again. Since the Bihar defeat Rahul Gandhi has disappeared from public view, except to issue a ‘clean’ certificate for Manmohan Singh in the various scams confronting the government. Increasingly, the Digvijay-Rahul team is a hindu-bashing duo without any responsibility of any kind whatsoever. Increasingly, Rahul’s political behaviour has been much like the has-been Digvijay. Increasingly, his political career is being built around stupid utterances rather than sound political insight. And it appears, Digvijay has taught him great lessons on how to put the lipstick on the media. 

 

Many of his stupid utterances, of which one can compile a long list, were often swept aside or ignored, being made mostly to Indian audiences. His ‘Hindu terror’ comment to an American diplomat is one more in a long list. On the face of it, it is just that, another stupid comment from an ignoramus. It is not some comment that his Congress party members have not made in the past. The Congress party itself is based on an ‘Anti-Hindu’ and ‘Muslim-appeasement’ ideology. It is the reaction, of which there was none directly from Rahul himself, of their spokespersons who immediately rubbished it as a ‘conspiracy’ and then realising there can be no defence for such a comment, decided to go on the offensive. The Manish Tiwaris, the Abhishek Singhvis and the Jayanthi Natarajans followed with how Rahul views all terror equally. That’s more lipstick for Rahul. It was easy for the Congress to distance themselves from the deceptions of a Digivijay Singh. But how could they possibly distance themselves from their prince charming? So, the only option left was to go on an offensive and bring in all other issues when this particular comment is being discussed on any forum.

The media has a long term interest in sucking up to Rahul Gandhi. The current PM, Manmohan Singh, may not see another term. So it makes good sense to invest in the future, so by glorifying Rahul Gandhi’s political escapades and hiding the truth from him they further strengthen his self-deception. One such glorification was his travel to Mumbai and on the local trains (with a minister carrying his footwear) as a complete demolition of the Shiv Sena. If Rahul had any political sense, he should have known that the Shiv Sena is no great political power in itself and apart from some rabble rousing poses no real threat to the Congress. In contrast, when addressing students in Darbhanga (Bihar) in February 2010 it was Rahul who faced the ire of students for ill-treatment of Biharis in Maharashtra.

The persuasions of the Congress to not identify or deal with ‘Islamic Terror’  is not too hard to see for anyone. Even if there was ‘Hindu terror’ I doubt it poses as serious a threat as an intellectually, diplomatically and morally challenged Rahul Gandhi. And his self-deception is his personal problem. But it’s the media that encourages this deception.  No matter how much lipstick the media puts on him... he is destined to be a ......In any other democracy he would have been a laughing stock and a never-ending source of inspiration for cartoonists.

Cartoon sources: 1. By Tom Toles – The Washington Post  2. John Cole - The Times-Tribune